Posted on 08/18/2021 9:15:40 PM PDT by NoLibZone
It is painful to see people attempting to flee their own country on the wings of foreign military airplanes. But the sudden shift in politics in Afghanistan has made fleeing the country an easier option than staying back amidst collapsing infrastructure. With the Taliban now in charge of the capital city of Kabul, it is also now in charge of the mineral deposits in the country, which include cobalt, iron ore, copper, and rare elements like lithium.
Early in 2020, Ashraf Ghani, the Afghanistani President, now in exile, had termed these mineral deposits a curse. The areas with rich natural reserves have been sites of criminal activity and attracted militant groups such as the Taliban. There are multiple groups contesting the area for control. On its part, the Taliban is aware of the value of the region's mineral exploits and has even utilized it to fund their own operations.
The abrupt removal of the US forces has left a political vacuum that China seems eager to fill. The Week reported that Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a Taliban delegation earlier in July and the two have agreed on a bigger role for China in the "future reconstruction and economic development of the region."
China had made some inroads in mining projects in 2008 with a plan to mine copper out of what is believed to be the second-largest copper reserve in the world. However, progress on the project had been slow. Its next target could be the rare earth elements like lithium that China currently mines and exports from its mainland to fuel the electric transformation of transportation in the US and Europe.
Lithium-ion batteries are now ubiquitous in almost all electronic appliances and even working as storage systems for grids powered by renewable energies. However, China would be happy to move the operations to another country, given the environmental risks entailed in the process.
With the US looking to reduce its dependence on China for lithium and electric vehicles, it does seem like an unwise step to move out of a region that was termed as the "Saudi Arabia of lithium" in 2010. Or has the 2020 United States Geological Survey (USGS) report that does not even mention Afghanistan in the list of global lithium reserves, led to a change in its strategy for the region.
Afghanistan is the Saudi Arabia of lithium.
Yes indeed. And we gave it to China.
All the CIA cared about was heroin and fentanyl profits. Sad!
Afghanistan has lots of copper under the ground. The Chi-Coms can get to it with slave labor.
Grifter Joe was paid off in advance (via Hunter) for the damage he now does after Democrats used ‘kindly old grandpa’ with dementia as a beard to steal the election. I saw a video about how even the Aussies are saying Biden has put us all in danger again, and you can check it out in crawler link top of page at Whatfinger News. Afghanistan fell 7 months after Joe took over, so it had nothing to do with Trump, and Xi is laughing his Winnie the Pooh butt off about it.
Sold. Biden doesn’t do anything for free. It was just upfront, in deals with Hunter.
Just as Russia is a gas station disguised as a country.
China eyes the rest of the world as its economic colony. The exploitive contracts they have signed and are executing in Africa make the old land grab European colonists seem like missionaries. If patterns hold the Taliban leadership has already opened Swiss bank accounts and the Chinese have already made good faith deposits in their name. BTW the Chinese contracts call for the right to establish their own “private” armed security at their sites.
And unlike Russia or the USA China has bodies to throw at Afghanistan when things go badly, which they will.
First, lithium is NOT a rare earth.
Second, lithium is found in low concentrations, requiring
extensive and hazardous processing. A batch of lithium brine takes from 1.5 to 2 years to process using solar evaporation.
Third, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina aka “the lithium triangle” have about 75% of the worlds reserves
Fourth, Taliban knows nor cares anything about mining or creating partnerships with people who do. The country doesn’t have the infrastructure (like electricity) to keep even a copper mine gong (which cost the Chinese a $3B lesson) so they’re unlikely to become lithium tycoons.
Fifth, rather than profiting from it they’re more likely to prevent anyone else from having it, just because that’s how they roll. If they need money, that’s what poppies are for.
It is interesting and troubling to see how much ground has been ceded to China by the US over the past 30 years. From a situation where they were known for cheap electronics and substandard equipment to a situation where they are the second largest economy in the world (largest if you measure via PPP), with growing influence over Asia and Africa (read: resource wealth) and the first real adversary America has that has a leg to stand on from a financial perspective.
All of that would mean nothing however if the America it was facing was the America of old. Willing to roll up its sleeves, thoroughly innovate, work harder and smarter than anyone else. The America that put the man on the moon - literally and (more importantly) figuratively. The America that could do anything, and do it with style.
Now you have an America where those on the Left are woke and weak and more interested in filtered tofu (which could be pixie dust for all I know) rather than having a strong exceptional country; while those on the Right and soft and meek and more interested in trusting in phantom plans from mysterious people (who could be Pelosi for all I know) and meekly waiting for the next secret code rather than keeping a strong exceptional country.
The only people truly angry must be the Russians. Thinking maybe they should have held on for another two decades.
The Chinese are laughing.
But it’s not over yet. America is still America. Just in slumber. There is hope. But it’s fading.
Oh my God! They are asking this after the fact. They had their eyes on the minerals before they released the Hunter Biden hooker video. That was the reminder to Joe that his son could doom his presidency. Abandoning the air base and pulling troops out before civilians, Joe’s idiocy is the perfect cover for an overt act. It was ordered.
COVID was ordered to get Trump out of office. Trump and his trade war were bad for business. The CCP has vast financial interests in American corporations and they have politicians who are bribed or blackmailed or both.
since when has Red China ever given a damn about “environmental risks”?
To the writer, name ONE time. The Three Gorges Dam? Backyard smelters? Nuclear Tests?
China can try to make advances in Afghanistan, but just when you think they’re your friends,...
One rod from God and the 3 gorges dam, as well as wuhan are an unfortunate history
afghanistan is one big “tar-baby”. Let china find out what a complete and total crap pile it is. One would think that our so-called “leaders” would have learned a little something from history, THEY DIDN’T! If they had, they’d NEVER have gone in there to begin with. It is a completely worthless place filled with backward-ass savages. These are actual cavemen! Trying to civilize them is like trying to teach a pig to sing, it frustrates you and annoys the pig. That said... biden completely wrecked this whole mess! He made us look like we turned tail and ran, leaving behind some of our own people (oh! but we’re going to take in tens of thousands of jihadis... and that makes it all better)
Bear, Catholic, Pope, woods.
China sees Afghanistan obviously as part of their Belt and Road Agenda as well. A map shows clearly it’s advantageous for them to zero in.
China operates and functions an agenda very much like the Qin Dynasty regarding what they can accumulate from other countries in order to create a hardwire of dependence on them they can ultimately control. This is why the push for changing the Currency Standards .....convince the world the US shouldn’t hold it,.... they’ve already convinced a few nations.
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