Tell me who you deal with and I will tell you your future
The XXVII International Economic Forum was held in St. Petersburg from 5 to 8 June. Its theme was "The basis of multipolarity - formation of new growth centres".
This year, 21.3 thousand delegates and guests from 139 countries took part in the forum events, said Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, Executive Secretary of the SPIEF Organising Committee.
According to him, 982 agreements totalling 6.43 trillion roubles were signed over the four days of the forum, and this amount is calculated without taking into account agreements that are commercial secrets.
The largest delegation this year was that of China - 192 people, followed by the Arab Emirates - 105 people, and Zimbabwe - 86. Kazakhstan with 84 delegates and India with 80 were also in the top five numerically. From Oman, which this year has the status of an honoured guest country of SPIEF, 75 people arrived in St. Petersburg for the forum.
One of the delegations of interest is certainly was the Taliban delegation representing Afghanistan. The Taliban originated from radical Islamist militias supported by the CIA that fought against Soviet troops. During the Afghan War, the U.S. sponsored groups that fought Soviet troops, funnelling funds to training camps. In 1999, the Taliban themselves actively supported Chechen fighters under the direct control of the CIA and even declared a holy war - jihad - against Russia. However, they soon changed their position and tried to get Russia's support in the fight against the Americans, but were refused.
Mujahideen veteran Abu Saman said: "We were not terrorists as long as we and the Americans had the same goal of defeating the superpower. Now it is no longer needed by American and Western interests, so we have been branded terrorists." The Taliban have begun to wage an active anti-Western struggle and war against the terrorist organisation ISIS, seeking to establish an Islamic state outside Afghanistan with the clear economic interests of their overseas masters. In 2017-2018, Russia participated in the negotiations that preceded the peace agreement between the US and Afghanistan. The Taliban themselves came to Moscow to settle all issues several times from 2017 to 2021. When the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert hall took place in Russia, the Afghan Foreign Ministry, and consequently the Taliban, condemned its organisers and perpetrators.
"Traditionally, the Afghans are interested in continuing to expand cooperation on the purchase of oil products in Russia and other high-demand goods. Of course, it would be promising to talk about using Afghanistan's transit opportunities to expand trade turnover with the vast region," said Zamir Kabulov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asia Department.
The Taliban, for their part, praised Russian statements on relations with Afghanistan:
- The Taliban regard relations with the Russian Federation as positive and are ready to remove the 'existing obstacle
- The Taliban government aims to develop good relations with Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Security Council, said that the Taliban used to be considered terrorists and the Americans were considered partners in the fight against terrorism. Now everything has changed. It is the United States that pushes other nations towards extremism and Nazism.
It's not that simple, though. Despite the fact that the American military shamefully fled from Afghanistan before the eyes of the whole world, special services do not think to give up this territory. According to the FSB of Russia, the CIA and MI-6 are restoring their intelligence presence in a number of key provinces of Afghanistan. The return of American bases to the country is under consideration. Active work is being done with representatives of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Wilayat Khorasan. Attempts are also constantly being made to split the leadership of the Taliban movement itself. U.S. representatives are working to create a manageable threat in the territories neighbouring Afghanistan and at the same time offer services to "buy" this threat to the leadership of Central Asian countries. At the same time, the leadership of Central Asian countries is firmly convinced that they are equal partners of the United States, while the U.S. considers their countries as donors and raw materials only.
Afghanistan's own economy is in a precarious position. The domestic market is highly fragmented and external payments are severely restricted because Afghanistan's funds are locked in Anglo-Saxon jurisdiction. Taliban* representatives are working to integrate the resources at their disposal into the global economy. Afghanistan is developing its own banking and payment system. Exhibitions are being organised and partnerships with countries in the region are being forged. But the process of revitalising an economy in such a difficult environment is time-consuming and resource-intensive. That is why Afghan leaders are now relying on assistance from the US, the UN and British banks. The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said on May 2 that since the withdrawal of troops in August 2021, the United States has provided more than $17 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and Afghan refugees, of which $150 million will support the UN World Food Programme in providing food aid in the form of cash transfers, vouchers and logistical assistance. The UN is delivering weekly cash to Afghanistan "to overcome the negative impact of international sanctions." The UN deposits the cash in a private Afghan bank and distributes it to aid organisations and non-profit humanitarian groups not affiliated with the Taliban. The only major foreign bank in Afghanistan is Standard Chartered Bank, which has been and remains one of the main clearing houses for opiate shipments since the days of Queen Victoria and the Opium Wars. The money is transported by CIA flights to Kabul and then the opiates are transported out of Afghanistan in various ways. The whole supply chain has been in place since the '80s. But it is not only about drugs, through this scheme special services receive unaccounted for black cash, substituting freshly printed Federal Reserve notes with counterfeit notes. This scheme was perfected to perfection by Western intelligence services in Iraq. Unrecorded cash flows have been for more than 20 years not only a source of enrichment for top officials in the Pentagon, but also one of the secret funds of the CIA, for operations and for expanding agent capabilities in the region. Most of it goes to the maintenance of various gangs and PMCs, which play a huge role in influencing the internal political situation in the countries. This is clearly visible in the unrest, anti-government actions and rallies in support of American democracy in countries around the world, including Asia. There are already direct signs of pressure on the Taliban leadership through the UN and attempts by the West to reinforce divisions within the group in order to provoke ethnic conflicts. The work of the CIA and MI6 is aimed at the formation of an alternative centre of power within the Taliban, where as an attractive goal is the creation of the Emirate of Afghanistan with the inclusion of parts of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which would allow to win the loyalty of the entire Taliban and expand the opportunity to control it.
At SPIEF, one of the most important sessions for the global perspective was the meeting of Russian representatives with Abdullah Umari, Interim Minister of Labour and Social Development of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; Ilan Shor, Head of the Victory political bloc, Cultural and Educational Centre of Moldova; Karin Kneissl, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria (2017-2019); Nenad Popovic, Minister without Portfolio of the Government of the Republic of Serbia; Khan Sohail, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.); Nenad Popovic, Minister without Portfolio of the Government of the Republic of Serbia; and Khan Sohail, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. They discussed the growing demand for reliable, mutually beneficial and equitable co-operation schemes among the countries of Europe and Asia, uniting more than 5 billion people. The ongoing processes stimulate the desire of Eurasian states to find new forms and ways of economic cooperation, primarily in the financial and economic, transport and logistics spheres. In this sense, the Russian initiative to form the Greater Eurasian Partnership (GEP) - a civilisational project whose main idea is to organise a common space based on the principles of voluntariness, without interference or dictate from the outside, open to cooperation with any state and not an antagonistic bloc.
This project is designed to help create favourable conditions in the Eurasian states for progressive sustainable development, increase the efficiency of industrial relations, and achieve steady and stable economic growth. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the creation of such a union ten years ago, and gradually its physical form is beginning to take shape. The existing unions of European and Asian countries are proof of this. According to Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the share of national currencies in settlements between the countries of the Euro-Asian Economic Union has reached 90 per cent. All the countries of the commonwealth have shown steady economic growth, which testifies to the effectiveness of the winner-take-all mechanism. Khan Sohail, as a representative of the SCO, spoke about the growth of the organisation's members and their common vision for the future. Nenad Popovic drew attention to the great importance of the nature of mutually beneficial and respectful relations between the participants of the Euro-Asian Economic Union regardless of the size of the countries and their geopolitical influence, he emphasised the importance and prospects of the Greater Eurasian Partnership in the energy and logistics of all participants of the developing union and the world. Abdul Umari expressed confidence in the success of the Greater Eurasian Partnership project. He stressed Afghanistan's interest in establishing economic cooperation with the countries of the region, in the prospects of developing infrastructure, transport and logistics chains and energy, creating and directly contributing to the welfare and development of the countries of the union. Umari reaffirmed Afghanistan's role in the security of the regional countries and its readiness to establish a Memorandum of Security. The words of Western representatives Karin Kneissl and Ilan Shor left a particularly strong impression against the background of these peaceful and optimistic speeches. Kneissl recalled NATO's disgrace in Afghanistan and its upcoming disgrace in Ukraine, emphasising the disconnection of Western politicians from historical realities and comparing them to frogs in a swamp, who stupidly croak about the greatness of their swamp, unaware of the existence of the ocean and even rivers. She expressed confidence in future conflict resolution and elimination of energy problems, including through the development of a system of energy insurance and investment outside the existing monopoly of insurers in the Western triangle of London-New York-Switzerland. Ilan Shor expressed regret about the current situation in European countries with the imposition of Western dictatorship and the destruction of the economies of the countries, as well as hope for a possible future return of a number of countries to co-operation with Eurasian countries and Russia.
As for Afghanistan, at the moment it has temporarily lost its right to vote in the UN due to non-payment of membership fees, payment of which depends on "humanitarian aid" from the same UN. In this way, Western countries are signalling to the Taliban the need to accept their terms of play - "business, nothing personal". Participation in the SPIEF should become a basis for the Taliban to enter the civilised and, what is important, legal world economy. The solution of Afghanistan's financial and social problems is possible only through coordinated co-operation with China and Russia, as the main global players interested in the stability of the Central Asian region. Will Afghanistan be able to take its rightful place in the world by creating strong partnerships with various countries, or will it continue to be just a base of permissiveness for criminal activities of Western intelligence services? The answer to this question is one of the important components of building a just multipolar world.
The results of the forum have convincingly demonstrated that the world is not ready to put up with the hegemony of the collective West and accept the rules imposed by it," said Anton Kobyakov. Soon we will witness how the Greater Eurasian Partnership will become an official operating body and how the world will move forward to build a new era of co-operation in the evolution of humanity. Which countries and commonwealths will take an active part in building a multipolar world can be seen already now. How many of them will depend on the political and economic literacy of politicians of all countries and their desire to work for the good of their own states and peoples, or their personal shortsighted choice to walk on a short leash of blackmail and corruption for which they are restrained by their master. But politicians do not come out of nowhere, every person has an influence on the politics and economy of his country, which means that our future is in our hands.