China may align with Taliban and try to exploit Afghanistan’s rare earth metals

cnbc.com

40 points·koolba··8 comments

Yes, this is bound to happen. And China will get access to the natural resources at a fraction of what US spent in Afghanistan all these years. More discussion in this podcast episode: https://jingle.fm/p/tabadlabs-dragon-road-1570336991/s01-e08...

China may be happy to see the end of an American military presence and protectorate at its Western border but they are certainly worried about the Taliban as well.

They don't want any interference with Xinjiang and the very last thing they want is to see Afghanistan harbouring groups plotting against China because they absolutely don't want to have to intervene.

So, pragmatically, they will try to do business with the Taliban with development aid and infrastructure projects (perhaps linked with belt and road) in the hope that this will be enough of an incentive for them to stay well clear of China, but China does not 'like' the Taliban.

I wonder how much the Taliban could look away. The thing with fundamentalism is, a lot of it is hypocrisy, saying some things have to be the way they want it, but ignoring other things. Just look at Christian fundies ignoring Jesus' "be kind to each other" teachings. A quick google says the Quran also says women should be educated and respected, but apparently in the Taliban's mind women are chattel.

So, this new Talibanistan is not a religion-based country, it's a thuggery-based country abusing religion to justify whatever sick thing they want. So I wonder how much of that Chinese money is needed for them to erase away their concerns about the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

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