Learning from Wells? Afghanistan and Xinjiang
In a recent China Daily article a deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, has argued that U.S. military forces in Afghanistan should be substituted by a international peace mission as soon as possible. InAsiatimes, M K Bhadrakumar pointed out that this was the first time a official Chinese source called for a withdrawal of NATO and US forces.
According to China Daily
"The United States should first put an end to the war. The anti-terror war, which the former US administration of George W Bush launched in 2001, has turned out to be the source of ceaseless turbulence and violence in the past years. To promote much-needed reconciliation among the parties concerned, the US should end its military action. The war has neither brought the Islamic nation peace and security as the Bush administration originally promised".
The article seems also to endorse a negotiation with war lords as well as Taliban leaders, thereby, accepting them as legitimate players in Afghanistan.
The judgement that current US strategy came to a cul-de-sac broadly overlaps with US American commentator Engelhardt's reference to H G Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Engelhardt wonders why, only after 8 years of war, a few people finally realize that many Afghans perceive US troops as alien invaders. He concludes that the withdrawal of US military forces is the only way forward:
"What if - and this is an un-American thought - there is no American solution to Afghanistan? What if no alternative, or combination of alternatives, will work? What if the only thing Martians can effectively do is destroy - or leave?".
Like the US in Afghanistan the Chinese government could definitely draw some crucial lessons for its own "project" in Xinjiang. Many Uighurs at least are seeing the Chinese without doubt as kind of Martians too, and even though Al Qaeda appears not to be very successful in western China, a Chinese "solution to Xinjiang" might become more and more difficult, not to mention possible retaliations outside China.
According to China Daily
"The United States should first put an end to the war. The anti-terror war, which the former US administration of George W Bush launched in 2001, has turned out to be the source of ceaseless turbulence and violence in the past years. To promote much-needed reconciliation among the parties concerned, the US should end its military action. The war has neither brought the Islamic nation peace and security as the Bush administration originally promised".
The article seems also to endorse a negotiation with war lords as well as Taliban leaders, thereby, accepting them as legitimate players in Afghanistan.
The judgement that current US strategy came to a cul-de-sac broadly overlaps with US American commentator Engelhardt's reference to H G Wells' "The War of the Worlds". Engelhardt wonders why, only after 8 years of war, a few people finally realize that many Afghans perceive US troops as alien invaders. He concludes that the withdrawal of US military forces is the only way forward:
"What if - and this is an un-American thought - there is no American solution to Afghanistan? What if no alternative, or combination of alternatives, will work? What if the only thing Martians can effectively do is destroy - or leave?".
Like the US in Afghanistan the Chinese government could definitely draw some crucial lessons for its own "project" in Xinjiang. Many Uighurs at least are seeing the Chinese without doubt as kind of Martians too, and even though Al Qaeda appears not to be very successful in western China, a Chinese "solution to Xinjiang" might become more and more difficult, not to mention possible retaliations outside China.
MaxM - 9. Okt, 23:33
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