Via Al Jazeera, a report on Afghanistan’s untapped natural resources: Deep beneath the ground in one of the world’s poorest countries sits at least $1 trillion of untapped mineral resources, according to a report published by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum [PDF]. The South Asian country of 38 million people is estimated to hold […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at China’s vastly increased economic engagement with Afghanistan as it eyes a new node in the Belt and Road Initiative: On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Kabul and forced the U.S.-installed government of President Ashraf Ghani to escape overseas. From then on, the Taliban have ruled Afghanistan. […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Economist, a look at how China is tightening its grip on the world’s minerals: To decarbonise the global economy and build the data centres needed for ever smarter artificial-intelligence models, the world will need lots of minerals. China wants first dibs. Last year its companies ploughed roughly $16bn into mines overseas, not including minority […]
Read more »Via The Diplomat, a report on Afghanistan’s National Development Corporation (NDC) which, even though established under the previous government, has become a key instrument for the Taliban’s economic planning: Initially an inherited afterthought from the days of the Islamic Republic, the National Development Corporation (NDC) has risen to new prominence under the Taliban government in […]
Read more »Via Nikkei Asia, an article on the Taliban efforts to find foreign investors willing to help it diversify its economy and profit from its mineral wealth, but Afghanistan exported no commodities to China last year: China will offer the Taliban tariff-free access to its vast construction, energy and consumer sectors, Beijing’s envoy to Afghanistan said […]
Read more »Via YouTube, an interesting documentary on the legacy of secret negotiations between Afghanistan and America to build a pipeline through Afghanistan:
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