Is Eurasia rising after the fall of Kabul? The latest episode of The Burning Archive Podcast is out and available on all the usual platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
America’s capitulation in Afghanistan has provoked an humanitarian disaster, an imperial crisis, and a change in the balance of power between great states in Eurasia. The crisis is still unfolding but has revealed the growing connections and interests of the Eurasian states in a new world order, separate from Atlantic domination. This episode of The Burning Archive Podcast examines how Afghanistan’s neighbours and the great states of Eurasia are responding to the situation, and how it shows the Silk Roads are rising again.
Credits and material referred to during the show:
- International Crisis Group, With the Taliban Back in Kabul, Regional Powers Watch and Wait, Commentary 26 August 2021, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/taliban-back-kabul-regional-powers-watch-and-wait
- Ibrahim Bahiss, analyst at International Crisis Group, https://twitter.com/Afghan_Policy/status/1431812887832514564
- Putin, Xi Make Thinly Veiled Criticisms of US Over Afghanistan and COVID-19 Origin Tracing, Statecraft Bulletin, https://www.statecraft.co.in/article/putin-xi-make-thinly-veiled-criticisms-of-us-over-afghanistan-and-covid-19
- Wang Yi and Blinken 29 August 2021 meeting https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/zxxx_662805/t1902967.shtml
- Afghan ‘tragedy’ shows EU needs geopolitical muscle: Borrell, https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210822-afghan-tragedy-shows-eu-needs-geopolitical-muscle-borrell
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov comments, 27 August 2021, https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4847771
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at the Primakov Readings International Forum, via videoconference, Moscow, June 9, 2021
- Russia, China should communicate with new Afghan authorities independently from US: Russian scholar, Global Times, 31 August 2021, https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202108/1233008.shtml
- Peter Frankopan, Silk Roads: a new history of the world (2017)
- I’ve been thinking with Peter Frankopan, ep 10 Afghanistan
- Alexander Mercouris, “Biden’s Looming Afghan Debacle: Worst Since Fall of Saigon” (March 2021) and also much of Alexander’s other content at his channel and at The Duran
- The wonderful Kimiko Ishizaka and the Open Goldberg project, for the public domain recording of the Aria from J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations
- Ezra Pound reading from Canto 81.
Some other posts related to Afghanistan, imperial rivalry and the emergence of a multipolar world are:
I hope you enjoy this show. Let me know what you think about what it means for the history of our times – with comments here, via theburningarchive@gmail.com, or on twitter @ArchiveBurning.
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Update 15 September 2021
Since releasing this podcast I have come across the following excellent article – from the cradle.com “If the Taliban plays smart, Afghanistan can transform West Asia’s Silk Road story“ on the potential development opportunities linked to Eurasian powers for Afghanistan.
