Amruallah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud – leaders of the Afghanistan National Resistance Movement have tactically retreated and are hiding out in Tajikistan. This may seem unimportant, but Biden’s failure in Afghanistan is leading to a cascading series of events that threaten widen the current conflict.
With Taliban not yet recognized as the rightful rulers of Afghanistan and most of the world pointing fingers at Pakistan for providing the means to the Taliban to take over, the importance of the Tajikistan involvement comes at a pivotal moment in global affairs.
Both Russia and India are desperately trying to turn the tide in Afghanistan against the Taliban. Tajikistan becomes the key launchpad to stage attacks against the Taliban. For Russia, the Taliban represent more chaos and disruption for both Russia itself and its Muslim majority partners across the former Soviet states. India sees both China and Pakistan behind the Taliban win and with Afghanistan currently in both of their pockets, India has become increasingly isolated.
The Biden administration also recognizes their mistake in letting the Taliban take over and appears ready to back Indian PM Modi’s attempt at partnering with Russia and Tajikistan to take back Afghanistan.
With all of this, Afghanistan now becomes the main point of convergence for the global powers in a Great Game that is increasingly moving towards a World War. If China and Pakistan win out, the pressure on the West will be immense – after all China will be free to put all of its energies into taking Taiwan.