China offers 10 billion to the Taliban to get Afghanistan’s lithium
A Chinese company has offered the Taliban $10 billion and a proposal to build key strategic infrastructure to connect Afghanistan from north to south in exchange for access to the country's lithium reserves. Some experts have expressed fears that the offer will allow the Chinese regime to expand its influence in the region.
The proposal was discussed between a representative of Gochin, a mysterious Chinese company with deep ramifications in China, and the acting minister of the Taliban Ministry of Mines and Oil, Sheikh Hadith Shahabuddin Delawar, in his office on April 13. The talks came just months after the Taliban arrested two Chinese nationals who tried to smuggle 1,000 tonnes of lithium-containing rocks out of the country.
If applicable, this deal will change the Central Asian country's geostrategic positions: “ Geopolitically, this deal could give China significant advantage and influence in the region, as it secures a supply of critical resources and strengthens its presence in Afghanistan ,” Maher Saadat, exiled activist and Afghan affairs analyst, said in an email to The Epoch Times.
Afghanistan's lithium reserves have the potential to rival those of Bolivia, which has the most significant amount of lithium resources in the world. The Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said in a press release that the deal, once implemented, would directly employ 120,000 people and 1 million indirectly.
Abhishek Darbey, research associate of the China Research Program at the New Delhi-based Center for Analysis and Strategy of China (CCAS), stressed to The Epoch Times in an email that China is among the top Countries that supported the Taliban to form a government in Kabul after the US withdrawal from the country. He believes that the Chinese regime wants to control the region.
“In the case of Afghanistan, the country is important to China because the land dominance of the Belt and Road Initiative will pass through this region and a peaceful Afghanistan will create favorable conditions for the growth and progress of the BRI,” he said. " Moreover, China sees itself as a major power in the region and, therefore, wants to participate in the decision-making process of the region or be a power capable of influencing regional policy ," he added.
Afghanistan's lithium reserves are a quick source of cash for the Taliban, but they lack a long-term strategic goal, according to experts. “They may see this as an opportunity to generate immediate revenue to fund their businesses and consolidate their power, given their history of reliance on various sources of illicit funding, such as drug trafficking and extortion,” Saadat said.
The Taliban's focus on immediate financial gains, without considering the long-term implications and sustainable development of the lithium deposits, will likely limit the reserves' potential benefits for Afghanistan and its people. “ It will certainly not contribute to the general socio-economic development and stability of the country ,” he said.
The first lithium mine was discovered in Ghazni city in 2013. These rare mineral mines are found in five areas of Afghanistan: Herat, Shuryak Valley, Tagab District in Kapisa Province, Nawur District in Ghazni province and Badakhshan. The Taliban government is already backing Chinese investment in mining broadly, and that China's two largest lithium producers – Tienqi and Ganfeng – have already looked into lithium mines in Afghanistan.
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The article China offers 10 billion to the Taliban to get Afghanistan's lithium comes from Scenarios Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-offre-10-miliardi-ai-talebani-per-avere-il-litio-dellafghanistan/ on Sun, 23 Apr 2023 14:43:03 +0000.