Sometimes a cigar is not a cigar?

With all the escalation surge in Afghanistan, commentators are beginning to offer competing narratives for what is really going on.  Consider the following excerpt from an opinion essay in The Hindu:

The international community has been led to believe that the India-Pakistan fault line is the pivotal concern in the U.S.’s diplomatic strategy in Afghanistan. However, it is more a subplot. The U.S.’s principal protagonist is China, while India and Pakistan — and increasingly Russia — are more like jesters in forming the confusion and the humour in an Elizabethan drama. The main plot is about the expansion of NATO in Central Asia.

So, it is not really about Afghanistan or AfPak, according to the author, a former Indian diplomat, but is to strategically position the US and NATO in Central Asia in order to counter China.
I think this is a little exaggerated.  However, there is an element of truth here: like in Africa, here in Central Asia too China is beginning to flex its soft power in a big way.  For two reasons: one, the resources (oil and natural gas, in particular) and second, the Islamic population that China believes is more sympathetic to the Uighurs in China's Xinjiang Province.  Wait, this is all sounding way too familiar; is it because I have blogged about it before?  Of course, yes!!! :)