Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad believes Washington has a “core interest” in preventing the country from becoming a base for groups hostile to the United States, twenty-five years after 9/11.
Zalmay Khalilzad, who represented Washington in Kabul following the September 11, 2001 attacks, reaffirmed the necessity for the United States to engage in stabilizing Afghanistan. According to him, allowing the country to fall into chaos would directly serve the interests of Beijing and Moscow.
The former diplomat places competition with China and Russia at the center of his geopolitical analysis. Countering their influence in the region constitutes, in his view, the strategic priority that should guide U.S. policy toward Kabul.
Khalilzad also emphasizes the direct security risk: an unstable Afghanistan could once again become a sanctuary for organizations hostile to the United States, repeating the scenario that preceded the 2001 attacks.
