Ghani Has Fled Afghanistan

The BBC says he fled to the US embassy, so presumably he'll be back home in the US shortly.

He did apparently renounce his US citizenship, but presumably that will be reversed if it actually occured.

Well, another failed war that cost mucho dinero yet achieved f*ck all. I believe it was Alexander the Great who said Afghanistan was unconquerable over 2,000 years ago, but our wonderful politicians thought they knew better. Pragmatism rules and always has done. The people we elect have clearly never picked up a history book.

Interestingly Hamid Karzai is still in Kabul in his residence/ fortress with his family. Doesn't look like he has any plans for leaving.

And this one:

This is just embarrassing. And it seems like he's got dementia. :( We are f***ed.

They've had a few invaders:

John :-#(#

The Afghan war and occupation was one of history’s longest gravy trains, but even gravy has a sell-by date and this one was starting to get rank. Lights out

Suspicious. He's been on the CIA payroll for decades.

He's been a strong advocate for more Chinese economic development in Afghanistan for the past few years.

Interesting. And Russia and Pakistan (being a Pashtun). Good.

isn't China just setting up colonies like the west did in the old days? except instead of sending their own military to deal with the population, they just pay whatever corrupt government there to do it for them

Their dealings with the corrupt(?) US government to get soybeans at rock-bottom price indeed remind one of a colonial relationship. Similarly with iron ore and coal. And gas from Russia.

I believe China is mainly after exploiting the huge deposits of rare earth minerals there. They also have plans for some big infrastructure projects too, like hydroelectic power plants.

Karzai is China's envoy at large in Afghanistan. "Karzai spoke highly of China's role as "a very constructive player for peace and stability of Afghanistan." He said the Afghan people really want China to continue to contribute to Afghanistan's peace by creating a platform of talks on its own initiative in Beijing and also for the joint exercise of Troika of China, Russia and Pakistan. " He's been consistent with this message for ten years.

India is coming off as the big loser here- they sunk $3bn into Afghanistan to curry favor, and actually built some useful infrastructure. Look for them to blame their arch-enemy in Pakistan.

I guess that's not that much these days even for a poor country like India, they've got $18bn a year for a space/ICBM program.

We'll see if the new government lets the Tukmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline proceed unmolested. That was reportedly part of the Doha negotations last year.

Taliban Meet Ex Afghan President Hamid Karzai In Talks To Form Government