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As the U.S. withdraws from 20 years of war, Afghanistan's neighbors are facing up to the implications of living with a resurgent Taliban. From Moscow to Beijing and New Delhi to Tehran, there's alarm at the potential for regional instability as the Taliban captures ever-more Afghan territory. The militant Islamist movement now claims to control all of Afghanistan's borders. Central Asian states are looking to their former Soviet master Russia for security assurances amid fears fighting may spill over their frontiers. Russia's Foreign Ministry said a Taliban delegation that flew to Moscow last week pledged not to violate neighboring territory. As Eltaf Najafizada, Faseeh Mangi and Sudhi Ranjan Sen write, Beijing, which called the U.S. pullout "hasty," is worried for the security of $60 billion in projects in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. China's foreign minister heads to central Asia this week. Pakistan and Iran, already hosting millions of Afghan refugees, are concerned about new waves of people fleeing the violence. Across the region, too, there are fears a Taliban-led Afghanistan may again host jihadist terrorist groups. Taliban leaders insist they won't let this happen. The Afghan government, which retains control of Kabul and the country's provincial capitals, says its forces will retake lost territory. There's little confidence internationally in either claim. With the peace talks stalled, many experts see a Taliban takeover as a matter of time. The worry among Afghanistan's neighbors is that they are facing the same calamity as they did two decades back. — Anthony Halpin

A family flees on July 4 after the Taliban captured a key district in Kandahar. Photographer: Javed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images Click here to follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

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