China is reportedly planning to start a propaganda war against the United States in Afghanistan, according to a top diplomatic source who spoke exclusively to CNN-News18. The source stated that China intends to research the US occupation of Afghanistan from a Chinese point of view and fund TV channels and websites. They also plan to invest in institutions, research, and information centres, as well as bring in Afghan officers on short-term scholarships. The Chinese are aiming for Kabul TV channels and news websites, as they have supported Afghan media in the past. The source added that China is looking for investigators who could be used for other assignments.
China aims to be at the centre of a new world order, overthrowing the US, and the friction between the two nations has only increased since disputes over trade, technology, security, and ideology. The Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan in 2021, two decades after US-led forces toppled their regime in what led to the United States’ longest war.
Once the US left Afghanistan, China came to set up lucrative business deals with the new regime, mainly in the infrastructure sector. The Taliban rulers have been seeking foreign investments in hopes of halting the downward spiral of the Afghan economy since their takeover. Geologists have earlier identified that Afghanistan might have one of the largest copper deposits in the world, along with significant deposits of lithium, iron ore, and rare earth elements. China has economic and mining interests in the country, but those familiar with past talks between the Taliban and Chinese officials said Beijing wanted Taliban commitments to prevent China’s Uyghur opponents from setting up operations in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan arm of the Islamic State is targeting Chinese nationals in a bid to “avenge” Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. China had ordered all its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country “as soon as possible” following a terrorist attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in the heart of Kabul on December 12, 2022, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. These orders came as a big blow to the Taliban regime amid the investment plans.
