Journalists examine how US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan shaped Russia's and China's ambitions
In a conversation for American broadcaster NPR, journalists Mikhail Zygar and Cindy Yu discuss how the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks influenced the shaping of Russia's and China's geopolitical strategies.
A lesson from Washington's actions
A segment aired by American public broadcaster NPR looks at how the two-decade-long US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, launched after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, influenced not only the Middle East and South Asia but also the geopolitical thinking of other major powers.
The discussion featured two journalists specializing in the relevant regions — Mikhail Zygar, known for his writing on Russia, and Cindy Yu, who focuses on China. Both explained how Washington's conduct and its consequences over two decades served as an observable example for Moscow and Beijing as they shaped their own foreign policy positions and the limits of their international ambitions.
Impact on Russian and Chinese strategy
According to the journalists, US involvement in both conflicts, and the fallout from it, left a lasting mark on how Russia and China assess their place in the world order. This experience, in their view, helped both countries form a sense of how far they could and should extend their influence internationally, based on how the US reacted to and suffered the consequences of its interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Zygar and Yu emphasized in the conversation that the link between the US wars and the subsequent conduct of other major powers is not coincidental — it reflects a deliberate process of learning from another power's experience, both its successes and its failures.
The segment was produced around the anniversary period of the September 11, 2001 attacks, revisiting how events from more than two decades ago continue to shape the world order today.
