Afghanistan has been, through the ages, an apple of discord and a lever of pressure against neighbouring countries and the great powers alike, since its strategic and geopolitical position between east and west is of great importance. Precisely for this reason, it has been a target of the great powers since the time of the Roman Empire.

I remember being in Egypt on November 13, 2001, when forces of the US-backed Northern Alliance (NATO) entered the capital, Kabul, triumphantly, having ostracized the Taliban. The American superpower had responded swiftly and overwhelmingly to the September 11 terrorist attacks launched by al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, on American soil. The leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, a former ally of the Americans and their creation as a bulwark against the expansion of the then Soviet Union in the region, as “freedom fighters” of the then Mujahideen, enjoyed immunity in the territories of the Taliban and was the “pretext” for the crushing defeat of the Taliban. The Soviets, who were the primary “enemies”, first of the Mujahideen and then of the Taliban, were forced to retreat.

A year and a half later, Shock and Awe were to follow in Iraq. Most Western politicians, analysts and journalists bowed before the display of American power. The neoconservatives’ plan in the Bush Jr. administration for a New American Century through the “war on terror” seemed to be vindicated, in the eyes of many.

Twenty years later, the Soviet Union has collapsed and Russia has taken its place as a superpower, and things have taken a dangerous turn again, with the Middle East ablaze and the Taliban and other extremist Islamist movements rising to power. In 2 weeks, the USA will commemorate the twentieth anniversary of September 11, but in Kabul, the white flag of the Taliban will fly with the black inscription of the Shahada of Islam (There is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of God!). The longest war in America’s history ended on Sunday, August 15, in the most humiliating way for the superpower that is the USA.

In stark contrast to the past, the continuation of the Soviet Union, “Mother Russia”, which was the sole enemy of the Mujahideen (and the USA), who were essentially the central driver of the creation of the Taliban, is now a friendly country. After the Taliban’s landslide victory and the disorderly flight of the Western forces from Kabul, the Russian embassy is the first embassy in Kabul to be protected by the Taliban, while Russian agents are the first to report the flight of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who embezzled the country’s public money!

The mineral wealth exploited by the Taliban, with revenues of more than 30 billion annually, ends up in Pakistan and Russia, and thus proves the inextricable relationship the 2 countries have with the Taliban. It is worth noting that Pakistan is the country that hosts the headquarters of the Taliban since their creation in 1994, while Qatar is the one to have not only the press centre of the Taliban, but other executive arms of the terrorists as well!

China, which has a shortage of uranium, and is one of Afghanistan’s neighbours, said it would cooperate and not close its embassy in Kabul. Shiite Iran is the only losing state from the new situation in Afghanistan that will be added to the existing alliance Turkey – Qatar – Pakistan – RUSSIA!

I will explain the role of each country in this alliance below.

• Qatar: the financier and long-standing hospitable relative of the Taliban leadership and its negotiator with the USA.

• Pakistan: Turkey’s nuclear and military alliance.

• Turkey: Russia’s steady customer for the new nuclear reactor in terms of know-how.

In a statement by the former Saudi Interior Minister, “the Taliban have Wahhabi ideology, namely the Saudi Arabian Doctrine”. The new Saudi Arabia of the 70s-80s is being built on Afghanistan, playing the role of the poor cloned relative.