Commentary
The Taliban government of Afghanistan is expanding its trade and cooperation with Russia and China, but a true alliance is unlikely.
Earlier this month, Kabul and Beijing signed a $540 million dollar deal to develop Afghanistan’s oil and gas fields. This is the biggest deal the Taliban has signed since taking control of the country in August 2021. Immediately after the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, the economy collapsed. As the regime has not been recognized by any Western government and is designated as a global terrorist, Kabul has been placed under sanctions restricting flows of cash into the country. Washington has also frozen Afghanistan’s foreign currency reserves of around $7 billion held in the United States. The United States is placing them in a trust and will release the funds when there is a stable and internationally recognized government in Kabul….