A New Dawn for Afghanistan’s Mes Aynak Copper Mine?
July 31st, 2024
Via The Diplomat, an article on how – with a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the start of work on an access road – the Taliban and China aim to get the Mes Aynak project underway again: After 16 years of delays, last week representatives of Afghanistan’s Taliban government and Chinese engineers broke ground at Mes Aynak, estimated […]
Read more »Afghanistan Tourism: The Taliban Wish For Visitors
July 20th, 2024
Via BBC, a look at tourism in Afghanistan: When it comes to planning a holiday, Afghanistan is not at the top of most people’s must-visit lists. Decades of conflict mean that few tourists dared step foot in the Central Asian nation since its heyday as part of the hippie trail in the 1970s. And the […]
Read more »Navigating the Crossroads: China’s Mineral Pursuit in Afghanistan and the US Concerns
July 18th, 2024
Via Australian Institute of International Affairs, a report on China’s mineral pursuit in Afghanistan: As the US-led NATO forces withdrew, China stepped into Afghanistan, focusing on exploiting mineral resources, including lithium, crucial for green technologies like electric vehicle batteries. This move has raised geopolitical tensions and also concerns about the ethical trade-offs between economic development […]
Read more »Central Asia: The Once and Future Heart of Eurasia
July 4th, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a report on Central Asia: In recent decades, the portrayal of the five former Soviet Central Asian states—collectively known as the “stans”—in Western media and policy discourse has often been overly simplistic, neglecting their unique identities, historical legacies, and rich cultural diversity. These nations are frequently depicted as objects in a larger […]
Read more »How the Taliban Took Over Afghanistan’s Mines
June 26th, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Afghanistan’s mining sector under the Taliban, which has issued hundreds of deals to tap gold, gemstones and minerals: Afghanistan has long been a fabled land for miners. The mountainous country sits on an estimated $1tn of materials that decades of war have largely put off limits. But […]
Read more »Climate Change Imperils Taliban’s Shift From Opium
June 21st, 2024
Via The Washington Post, a report on how prolonged droughts attributed to climate change are making it hard for Afghans to grow other field crops and fruits, but hardy opium poppies can still thrive: Two years after the Taliban banned opium, Afghan farmers turning to alternative crops are discovering that many no longer grow easily […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.