Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview published on Thursday that China will be Afghanistan’s “most important partner” as the new Taliban-led government is seeking infrastructure investments.
“China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us, because it is ready to invest and rebuild our country,” Mujahid told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
Mujahid said there are “rich copper mines in the country, which, thanks to the Chinese, can be put back into operation and modernized. In addition, China is our pass to markets all over the world.”
Afghanistan faces a potential economic crisis, and the new government is strapped for cash. After 20 years of waging war in the country, the US is now withholding billions in Afghan reserves to use as leverage over the Taliban.
With the US using its control over the global financial system as a weapon against the Taliban, China is an obvious partner for them to turn to. China is a regional country and is seeking to expand its global infrastructure project, known as the Belt and Road Initiative.
One of China’s few requests of the Taliban is that they cut ties with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Uyghur Muslim group Beijing accuses of carrying out terrorist attacks in Xinjiang. But Beijing appears to be ready to recognize the new Taliban government and has kept its embassy open in Kabul.
US starts war IMC unloads trillions in weapons from US taxpayer coffers, a few top companies, and the .00001% gains tremendous wealth. Leaves the place in total disarray. World Bank steps in, you need loans. Enslaves the nation in Debt, .0000001% will gain tremendous wealth. Afghans hate US, works with China, money is exchanged to PRC for global trade, 00001% gain tremendous wealth. The US, UK, and PRC 000001% laugh next time they get together to pretend this was never about global nation building all along. Wreck it, Debt it, Trade it, Looks like they all finally got a government they can agree on =)
The Taliban will do well to steer clear of the IMF , WB , ECB , these are the tools the Americans , / Europeans will use to get a strangle hold on the Afghan people , America and it`sNATO numpties will not let their defeat in Afghanistan go unpunished they will do all in their power to undermine the Taliban Government , and if anyone really thinks there are no Americans or Brits left in Afghanistan they are delusional .
That puts more meaning on the Belt and Road Initiative. Once trade goes overland into China, it will disappear into “Chinese trade.” That is sanctions busting, of the sort Afghanistan will need.
But no doubt the US will hold credits, aid, and even their bank assets hostage to subordination to The Empire. And, as usual, this will occur under cover of women’s rights, nso on.
Your last sentence spelled it out.
The people of the Asian steppes, deserts, valleys and mountains have always been traders and most of them most of the time demanded free trade.
If you wanted to trade, say, in Tashkent you sent an embassy to Tashkent with rich presents for the ruler of Tashkent.
The the Russian/Soviets/ Russians and the Brits entered the region and they had to do the same: offer lots of goodies for every ruler and occasionally use military aggression.
The Russians developed a threat for the Brits but a boom for the locals: the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
Much changed after WW2 and much has remained the same. If Afghans want to trade in Beijing which has replaced Tashkent, Bukhara, and Kabul combined, they must come with goodies and they did: rare earth-holding minerals in the ground.
And the Chinese are scaring the West with the Belt and Road Initiative which is the analog of the Trans-Siberian-Railroad.
If we and the Russians and the EU and GB get militarily out of Central Asia but genuinely enter the trade-game there will be no disasters but there will be vast wealth to be reaped. As it was in the 16th and 17th centuries before we stupid Europeans became colonizers.
The Taliban are a little too optimistic about the degree of penetration into China by Western European oligarchs. Chinese faces may front European strings from Brussels and Tel Aviv.
However, China and Russia appear to be their last hope for Afghanistan to recover from decades of foreign military interventions.
The Taliban were distinguished from the ex-Mujahideen warlords and their heirs, in being anti-warlord and pro state-building.
Its just that state building from the 7th century playbook was a little awkward in the 20th century…
… the 21st… well we’ll see how resistance to COVID-1984 goes.
Eloquently said. A multi Trillion dollar mineral wealth and the Belt and Road project are the two game changers for Afghanistan and dozens of other nations to become developed nations
i guess that call that ‘ a flip’…well done usa, well done…
Weird ass future coming into frutation,eh kiddies? Are we all stressed out enough yet?