News Analysis Russia and China in the Graveyard of Empires, happy to see the United States leave, are the two big players that have just inherited a dangerous quagmire, plagued by instability and an uncertain economic future. According to Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban government wants to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road”), which connects Central Asia to the oil fields of Iran. Russia and China see the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan as proof of a decaying West and a demotion of the United States as the preeminent world power. This comes as welcomed news to China, aspiring to replace the United States as a global power. For Russia, the age-old rival of the United States, a U.S. decline would be the culmination of a Cold War dream. Both have leveraged the fall …