the Taliban wants to act like they are a legitimate govt, so they say what people want to hear.

China wants to keep things stirred up and keep us and the Russians fighting so they can consolidate more power and even better get some more influence over Russia (the Northern Resource Area). At the end, if we and Russia were smart we'd be allied and pivoting to counter China, but we're too hung up on supporting the old cold war NATO alliances which makes a lot of western leaders rich.