While the comment may seem off-topic, geopolitics dont happen in a vacuum. You move chess pieces over to one side and you create spaces for your opponents.

Maybe China will fill the void in Afghanistan?

Perhaps they are constrasting this particular U.S. strategy of pressure through boots on the ground v.s. aggressive Chinese foreign economic policies.

Now that isn't to say I think the U.S. does no economic tweaking and fiddling in foreign nations...