China And India: Competing For Influence In Afghanistan
March 30th, 2015
Via The Diplomat, a look at China and India’s competition for influence in Afghanistan: New Delhi and Beijing are both keen to see the visit to China by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is scheduled for May, produce something substantive. For one thing, the two countries are looking to address one of the thornier […]
Read more »Afghanistan’s Big Project: A Train To Europe
March 26th, 2015
Via Newsweek, an article on a proposed rail link between Afghanistan and Europe: Looking beyond the security troubles plaguing his country, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani outlined plans on Thursday to build a strategic railroad stretching from Central Asia to China that would allow Afghanistan to develop its untapped mineral resources. In a speech at the […]
Read more »Afghanistan: Can Pomegranates Power The Economy?
December 5th, 2014
Via BBC, a report on Afghanistan’s economic prospects: As delegates gather in London for a conference on Afghanistan, the prospects for reducing the reliance on foreign aid are increasingly focused on two sectors of the economy: agriculture and hydrocarbons. Harvest time is coming to an end in the fruit orchards of Kandahar, a province now […]
Read more »Afghanistan’s Natural Resource Strategy
July 13th, 2014
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at Afghanistan’s natural resource strategy: The pending outcome of the Afghan presidential election run-off on June 15 will decide a host of measures that will guide the country’s future development. While the presidential candidates have largely been opaque as to the methodology of their many and bold promises, it […]
Read more »From New York Heroin Dealer To Afghanistan’s Biggest Oil Man
July 8th, 2014
Via Reuters, an interesting story on Afghanistan’s nascent oil industry: One-eyed Rateb Popal’s debut as an Afghan businessman was not promising: he was caught smuggling heroin and locked up in a New York federal prison for almost a decade. Popal had better luck once back in Afghanistan, where he emerged from obscurity to make millions […]
Read more »What’s To Become Of Afghanistan’s Mines?
April 2nd, 2014
Via Foreign Policy, a look at the future of Afghanistan’s mining sector: Five days after Sardar Ahmad Khan, his wife, and two of their three children were murdered by teenage gunmen while having dinner in a Kabul hotel on the eve of Nowruz, the Persian new year, I visited a mutual friend, Nader Nadery, to […]
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.