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Purely speculating… I wonder if there were any talks about this. I don’t think the US would leave without ensuring that no terrorism would come out of it, same with the Taliban now keeping civilians and those who surrender unharmed. Perhaps they made a deal where the Taliban can do what they want as long as they don’t bother others.

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There were. Keeping Al Qaida “out” and preventing any other terrorist groups from rising was part of the deal. Talks / negotiations between the Taliban and the US started back in 2018.

A lot of people throw the Taliban, Al Qaida and IS on the same pile mentally. But although the Taliban are no friendly bunch. They’ve been the ruling majority in the 90’s, until they made a pact with the devil: Osama Bin Laden. From what I read, they won’t make that same mistake twice. Their interest is purely domestic this time around.

It’s a sad day though, for sure.

>Their interest is purely domestic this time around.

and their support and finances from China

If the Taliban can weaken the position of the US China will support them, just like the US supported the Taliban when they could weaken the position of Russia back in the 80ies.

China next into Afganistan confirmed

would the 'graveyard of dynasties' befall upon China also? how differently / innovatively would China deal with Afghanistan and avoid the risk of Taliban/Islamic blowback ?

it is quite unbelievable how they made Taliban say "we've no problems with the Uighur situation"

They'd probably annex it and then install re-education facilites to show everyone on how awesome socialism with mainland Chinese characteristics are.

I don't believe the US has much leverage in this situation. Given how the war in Afghanistan is extremely unpopular domestically, any recourse against the Taliban that would involve US military involvement would be a political slip 'n slide.

No, but I imagine the US can still make it very difficult for the Taliban, perhaps in a more clandestine way. There are still bases across the border afaik.

There was a long time for peace treaty talks, so perhaps some countries in the (Gulf) region are intermediaries in this new balance of power.

Yes there was an agreement between the US and the Taliban:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doha_Agreement_(2020)

Thanks, gonna read that!

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