evidence: Professional lecturer of international affairs at George Washington University [...] Foremost among the CCP’s security priorities in Afghanistan is preventing members of ideological extremist groups from crossing the small border the two countries share between Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor and Xinjiang. Namely, Beijing remains concerned that the Taliban will provide a safe haven to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which it has accused of fomenting violent separatism in Xinjiang and cited as justification for mass repression of the Uyghur population. In 2020, the U.S. government delisted ETIM as a terrorist organization over lack of evidence about the group’s continued existence and capacity. [...] "Anything that the Taliban touches should be treated like we treat North Korea."