Item — HN Reader

If you didn't read the article - "American anxiety surrounding China’s potential moves in Afghanistan’s mining sector may be misplaced, for now"

There's a solid chance Afghanistan enters a civil war this year or next with the internal divisions between the Kandahar clique and the Haqqani clique starting to become violent, and the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (in reality ex-Taliban from the Mehsud biradari who split due to internal conflicts with the Haqqani biradari) pushing the Taliban out of FATA adjacent regions.

1 comments

Given its volatility, this is a risky move by the Chinese. Maybe it’s just a bet with a corresponding hedge somewhere else.

There is no investment other than an MoU. Any foreign organization in Afghanistan (in reality Kabul) is operating on a bare bones capacity, and anyone who had the knowhow in Afghanistan has taken asylum, emigrated legally or illegally, or is in the processes of either asylum or emigration.

There’s probably still enough copper at Mes Aynak to make it worthwhile

There most certainly is! But it's on hold right now and the security situation in Logar seems tenuous.

If Mes Aynek actually happens, then Lithium mining would probably start in 10 years too, but other regional rivals recognize that as well (it's telling that India has given a Terrorist designation to just about every major extremist Sunni org in AfPak except the TTP and Jundallah)