Originally the plan of the Taliban was to have Turkey send the people they need to run the airport in Kabul.  However, Turkish President Recep Erdogan told the Taliban he would willingly run the airport for them, but his 600 troops would need to remain as part of the airport security detachment.  The Taliban said no, the Turkish military needed to leave along with all the NATO troops. As a consequence Turkey said until you change your mind, run your own airport.

Here comes plan number two.  Plan number two is the Taliban calling on their second ally in the region, Qatar.

Now, remember, Qatar is home-base for the Muslim Brotherhood.  Both Qatar and Turkey are supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood (Barack Obama supports them also).  The Brotherhood is the political operation of al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, ISIS, ISIS-K and the Taliban.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the covering fabric, and the various Islamic extremist groups are the splines of the extremist umbrella.

Now the Taliban have asked Qatar to run the airport: CAIRO, Aug 27 (Reuters) – The Taliban will ask Qatar for technical assistance in operating Kabul airport, Qatari based Al Jazeera news channel reported on Friday citing a source in the Islamist movement.

The Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help to run the airport after next Tuesday’s deadline for all foreign military forces to pull out of Afghanistan, an ultimatum they say applies equally to Turkish troops.

Earlier today, two officials told Reuters Turkey will not help run the airport after NATO’s withdrawal unless the movement agrees to a Turkish security presence, after deadly attacks outside the airport highlighted the perils of any such mission. (link)

This request highlights the weird realignment we discussed two weeks ago:

(1) The Muslim Brotherhood.  There were reports from Qatar that MB leadership is heading back into Afghanistan.  This is predictable.  The Muslim Brotherhood is the political umbrella for authentic Islam (ie. extremists).  The Brotherhood supports the al-Qaeda regional affiliates including the Taliban, al-Nusra, and others.  Qatar is the financial center of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Brotherhood is political Islam.

(2) China.  Most people don’t realize that China shares a common border with Afghanistan and has issues with Islamic extremists and sympathizers.  China has benefited from the U.S. in Afghanistan keeping the Taliban in check.  A U.S. retreat now means China needs to engage with the Taliban to bolster their national security interests.  China will establish diplomatic ties with the Taliban partly because Beijing uses duplicitous diplomacy as a strategy.  [It ain’t because China likes the Taliban]

(3) Turkey.  Unfortunately for Europe, Turkey is both a NATO member (stupid decision) and aligned in common cause with the Muslim Brotherhood.  Turkish President Recep Erdogan has previously given safe harbor to the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood upon their exit from Qatar, when the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Bahrain) demanded Qatar stop supporting terrorists (the Brotherhood).

The EU will not want to recognize the Taliban, but Turkey most certainly will… regardless of what the EU wants, because Erdogan is aligned with extremist Islam.  Europe is weak and always ends up acquiescing to the threats of Turkey; so don’t look for much other than pearl clutching from NATO members about it.

(4) Europe.  As noted above, the EU doesn’t support Islamic extremism; however, the EU is now infiltrated with Islamic extremism, and the EU is too worried about cultural sensitivities to do anything about it.  They will likely try another round of multiculturalism advocacy, which will likely end just like the last time with fracture and cultural crisis because the Islamic extremists attack, murder and rape too many EU people.  It will be a mess again.

(5) Pakistan.  The Pakistani government is already aligned in common purpose with the Taliban, and have been supporting them under the table the entire time the U.S. was in Afghanistan (See UBL compound etc).  China has invested heavily in Pakistan and created reasonably strong ties.  China needs the assistance of Pakistan to help leverage their need for regional national security from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

(6) Russia.  Oddly Russia and the EU have the same outlook toward the Taliban in Afghanistan.  However, where the EU is twisted in pretzel knots of political correctness, Russia is not.  Look for Russian President Vladimir Putin to exploit his own interests in the EU via strength and a closer relationship. How? Because Russia can keep the Taliban and Turkey in check if the NATO members are blackmailed by Afghanistan and Erdogan.

*Note – NATO was formed to keep Russia in check…. and now we will likely watch Russia helping NATO keep their step-child, Turkey, in check. How’s that for some geopolitical irony?

Summary:  Qatar (Muslim Brotherhood) will help the Taliban (al-Qaeda).  China will form tenuous and conniving ties with the Taliban, likely relying on economics.  Turkey will support the Taliban and look for help, eventually, to assist Erdogan re-attain the Ottoman Empire he lusts. The EU is stuck between Russia and a hard place (Turkey), and will likely end up on team Putin.

Joe Biden will eat jello…. and the leftists in the U.S. State Department will run to their proverbial Alamo, The United Nations.

Wait for it…

HISTORY – President Obama’s February ’09 Cairo speech began a sequence of events that led to what was called the “Arab Spring“; factually an extremist uprising.  Bolstered by the resulting chaos the Muslim Brotherhood rose to power in Egypt behind Mohammed Morsi.

However, a majority of the Egyptian people rejected President Morsi’s sharia governance, and asked a well respected General Fattah al-Sisi to step in.  Accepting the request of a desperate people Sisi removed Morsi, disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood and went on to win a landslide election in 2014.   The leadership of the Brotherhood fled to Qatar.

President Obama and his policy team were not happy with this outcome.  Obama supported Morsi, not al-Sisi.  Another person who was not happy, was Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who also supported Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Undeterred, and understanding the need for urgency, Egyptian President al-Sisi then began a long process of confronting extremism.  Sisi destroyed the Hamas terror tunnels on the border between Egypt and Israel; and, despite the anxiety expressed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Sisi brokered an interim peace agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israelis.

Destroying the Hamas tunnels removed the physical terror influence of Iran.  President al-Sisi then returned his focus back to Qatar and their support for the exiled leadership of the Brotherhood.

President al-Sisi formed a coalition against Qatar. This coalition included the UAE and Saudi Arabia who withdrew their ambassadors and isolated Qatar in the region.  This was the beginning of what we now call more broadly the Arab coalition.  The coalition initiated sanctions against Qatar until they stopped financing and harboring terror.  Remember this is late in 2014 and a lot is happening really fast.

Against growing pressure from Arab states, including the Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatar agreed to expel seven leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.  Again reflecting his alignment with the Brotherhood, and with much more grand ambitions of a new Ottoman empire as his unspoken motive, Recep Erdogan provided the terror leaders a home in Turkey.

It is important to note timing (’13, ’14, ’15,) and the political alignments:

• President Obama, Turkey (Erdogan), Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and Iran, were aligned with favorable outlook toward the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE and the Gulf Arab states were not favorable toward the Muslim Brotherhood.

 

In the background of this ideological conflict, Syria is in a state of civil war as a result of U.S. Obama policy carried out by Secretary Clinton/Leon Panetta and Secretary Kerry/John Brennan.  Obama was aligned with Turkey, again Erodgan, who wants greater influence and has a vision of his new Ottoman empire.  As gatekeeper between Europe and the Middle East, Erdogan knows the value of his geography and the influence it provides him.

Erdogan also wants to absorb Northern Syria and is willing to enlist his Muslim Brotherhood allies toward his goals.  However, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE (team anti-Brotherhood) are against the expansion of Turkish influence.

Despite President Obama’s ongoing opposition, Egyptian President al-Sisi faced down Turkey over a U.N. Security Council seat and quietly defeated them.  [In a secret ballot, Erdogan lost.]  At the same time this was happening, expansive energy reserves via natural gas, were discovered to be much larger than initially thought off the coast of Israel.

♦ TEAM One – The Department of State is aligned with the CIA.  Their media PR firms are CNN, CNNi and the Washington Post. Their ideology is favorable to the United Nations.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by relationship with foreign actors.  References: Hillary Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative, John McCain, Qatar, Muslim Brotherhood, Samantha Powers, Susan Rice, Cass Sunstein, Brookings Institute, Lawfare, China-centric, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Council on Foreign Relations.

♦ TEAM Two – The White House is aligned with the Pentagon (DoD) and National Security Council (NSC).  Their media PR firms are domestic in nature. New York Times, Politico, etc.  Their internal corruption is generally driven by domestic influence.  References: Barack Obama, George Bush, Wall St, Big Banks, Multinational Corporations, Defense Contractors, FBI (state police), Judicial Branch, and community activists writ large.

Both teams are highly political. However, the State Dept/CIA team consider themselves above political changes; essentially the deeper Deep State.