China proposes $10bn investment in Afghan lithiumt.co/gGcvmO0hFH
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) April 15, 2023
Chinese company proposes $10bn investment in Afghan lithium reserves
Identified as Gochin, the company seeks to help build infrastructure and mine the national lithium reserves.
Lithium reserves estimated at $1 Trillion
As part of the investment, Gochin has said, it will repair the Salang Pass in seven months, carve another tunnel and will process the mined lithium inside Afghanistan. Since the Taliban’s return to power, China has expanded its economic ties with the Taliban,
— Iqbal Latif (@ilatif) April 15, 2023
with Chinese companies offering investments in Afghanistan. In January 2023, Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC) signed a $540 million deal to extract oil from northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin.
Bloomberg
— Iqbal Latif (@ilatif) April 15, 2023
Lol…..heavy-hitter US policy experts from CFR ( Council on Foreign Relations)
in 2021
“Why Major Belt and Road Investments Are Not Coming to Afghanistan”
www.cfr.org/blog/why-major-belt-and-road-investments-are-not-coming-afghanistan
That was then.
A year later Biden would order a disastrously executed hasty US retreat from Afghanistan to meet a 9-11 anniversary publicity op, and freeze billions in Afghan reserves held by the US.
www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/11/biden-7bn-frozen-afghan-reserves-taliban
Let’s go Brandon
Not just the geostrategic implications of diluting or eliminating Western efforts to ring the “ Eurasian Heartland” with bases to constrain its expansion…but another Chinese controlled trove of rare and strategically vital resources
“Chinese dominance across critical mineral supply chains poses a strategic challenge to the U.S. and Europe’s green energy transition. The lithium found in Afghanistan is a crucial component of large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and clean-energy storage systems. Copper, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements are also found in Afghanistan, all of which are crucial to the energy transition. China already controls a significant share of mineral processing capacity and is stepping up downstream investments to maintain its control over these and other minerals.”
www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/08/03/chinese-investment-in-afghanistans-lithium-sector-a-long-shot-in-the-short-term/
h/t Dodger007