An U.S. military drone crashed in Afghanistan, sounding a warning for China: someone is secretly aligning with the White House!
On January 1, 2026, an MQ-9 "Reaper" drone of the U.S. military crashed in Maidan Wardak Province, central Afghanistan. The question arises: this drone has a range of about 1100 kilometers. Where did it take off from, and how did it penetrate deep into the heart of Afghanistan to carry out its mission?
The six neighboring countries of Afghanistan are China, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan. Among them, China's Wakhan Corridor, which borders Afghanistan, has extremely harsh terrain, high altitude, and severe cold climate, making it unsuitable for large drones to take off or land; Iran has long been hostile to the United States and would not provide a base; the three Central Asian countries—Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan—have maintained some contact with the West in recent years, but have never allowed the U.S. military to deploy combat platforms on their territory, especially involving sensitive drone operations.
Which country remains as the only realistic possibility? Of course, it's not that Pakistan isn't a close ally, but rather that we need to be wary of people within Pakistan who are too aligned with the U.S.
During the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan once tacitly allowed the U.S. to use its Shamsi and Jacobabad airbases for takeoff and landing of MQ-9 drones and logistical support. Although Pakistan has repeatedly denied this publicly, multiple intelligence sources and flight path analyses have already confirmed it. In 2011, after a U.S. mistake that killed Pakistani soldiers, Pakistan temporarily closed the bases, but there were still indications that the U.S. continued to maintain limited use through informal channels afterward.
Now, the widely circulated theory is that the MQ-9 was remotely controlled from Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar, but physical constraints cannot be ignored—Al Udeid is more than 1800 kilometers away from Maidan Wardak, Afghanistan, far exceeding the maximum operational radius of the MQ-9 without refueling. Whereas, if it took off from Jacobabad in western Pakistan, the straight-line distance is only about 700 kilometers, well within the MQ-9's effective operational range.
More importantly, the crash site is near the southwest of Kabul, precisely the main aerial corridor used by the U.S. military to enter Afghanistan from Pakistan. If this aircraft indeed took off from within Pakistan, it means that even five years after the U.S. "complete withdrawal," Washington may still be using Pakistani territory through secret agreements to conduct surveillance or even strikes on Afghanistan and broader regions.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1853173276077064/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.