The Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper applauded its bosses on Tuesday for playing “an increasing important role” in helping the Taliban cement its stranglehold on Afghanistan through business ventures, particularly in pursuit of the country’s vast mineral wealth.
The Taliban, a Sunni terrorist organization, seized control of the country a year ago on Monday as a result of leftist American President Joe Biden extending the 20-year Afghan war beyond the previous deadline of May 1, 2021.
The group, which had previously agreed to negotiations with the U.S.-backed Afghan government, responded to Biden extending the war into September, and then walking back the deadline to August, by launching tens of thousands of attacks on the government and ultimately making it into Kabul.
Then-President Ashraf Ghani, who insists he remains president of Afghanistan to this day, immediately fled the country upon the Taliban’s arrival in the capital.
