New Delhi, Feb. 7 -- After several months of a sullen pause by the world community that watched the United States execute a messy withdrawal in August 2021, leaving its people to be ruled by the Taliban, a new phase of the "Great Game" that imperial Britain began 190 years ago, is gaining pace in Afghanistan.

China, a new player, nowhere in the early phases, leads the pack. President Xi Jinping recently accepted the credentials of Maulvi Asadullah, aka Bilal Karimi, as the Taliban envoy. Although not a formal diplomatic recognition, it is the first official recognition of the interim Taliban government by a major power. Chinese officials have stated that China believed that Afghanistan and the Afghan people should not remain isolated in ...