With US pullout, Afghanistan faces messy free-for-all for influence
Washington (AFP) - In announcing thousands of troops would be pulled out of Afghanistan, President Donald Trump was meeting the mood of the United States but also opening the door to growing, if still limited, influence by US adversaries, experts say.Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan and India all have complex and often competing interests in Afghanistan, where the United States, backed by Western allies, has been the undisputed top foreign power in the nearly 20 years since its invasion.What could emerge is less a "Great Game," as the 19th-century battle for influence in Central Asia was known, b...