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The Taliban, which took over Kabul with ease last week, now finds itself sitting on top of a fortune in mineral wealth that is coveted by major world players, including China.
Afghanistan, which is considered one of the poorest countries on the planet and survives on donations, is actually sitting on mineral deposits of about $1 trillion, according to CNN.
The report said that the country is rich in iron, gold, and copper. The country could also contain the world’s largest deposits of lithium. The Trends Journal has reported extensively on the global shift to lithium, which helps power green cars. (See: “GREEN CAR PRODUCTION CHALLENGED OVER ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT,” “NEW BATTERY COULD DOUBLE EV RANGE, SLASH CHARGING TIMES.”)
Lithium is valuable because it is considered lightweight, can store a lot of energy, and easily be recharged. Energy Analysts say the demand for lithium may increase 10 fold before 2030.
We reported that the Biden administration sees China as playing an important role in the supply chain since it processes lithium for the U.S. that had been mined in Latin America and Australia.
“Afghanistan is certainly one of the region’s richest and traditional precious metals, but also the metals [needed] for the emerging economy of the 21st century,” Rod Schoonover, a scientist and security expert who founded the Ecological Futures Group, told CNN.
China has not come out in full-throated support of the Taliban, but has shown a willingness to work together and to fill the void left by the U.S. China said in a statement on Monday that it “respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny” and will work to form “friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”
The statement is remarkable given the treatment of Uyghurs in the country, who are mostly Muslim people living in Xinjiang.
Zhou Bo, who was a senior colonel in the People’s Liberation Army from 2003 to 2020 and an expert on the Chinese Army’s strategic thinking, wrote in The New York Times, “The message here is clear: Beijing has few qualms about fostering a closer relationship with the Taliban and is ready to assert itself as the most influential outside player in Afghanistan now all but abandoned by the United States.”
He wrote in the paper that Beijing brings “no baggage” and has kept a low profile in the country.
“Beijing watched as Washington’s foray and Afghanistan became a messy and costly morass. In the meantime, China provided Afghanistan millions of dollars in aid for medical assistance, hospitals, a solar power station, and more. All the while Beijing was fostering stronger trade relations, eventually becoming one of Afghanistan’s largest trading partners,” he wrote.
We have been reporting extensively on the competition for supremacy between the U.S. and China. (See “TOP TRENDS 2021: THE RISE OF CHINA.”)
Zhou wrote in The Times that Afghanistan “has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building—areas in which China’s capabilities are arguably unmatched—and access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, including critical industrial metals such as lithium, iron, copper and cobalt.”
TREND FORECAST: As we have written, “While America spent countless trillions waging and losing endless wars and enriching its military-industrial complex, China has spent its trillions advancing the nation’s businesses and building its 21st-century infrastructure.
And while America and Europe have outsourced their manufacturing to China and developing nations to increase profit margins, China’s dual circulation/self-sustaining economic model is directed toward keeping jobs and trade and profits within the nation, thus relying less on global trade.”
TRENDPOST: China has outmaneuvered the U.S. on Afghanistan and has the ability to exert its influence even further in the region. The Brookings Institute wrote that there is some concern in China that instability in Afghanistan may continue to spread.
“Over time, China would welcome opportunities to benefit from Afghanistan’s rich mineral deposits and incorporate Afghanistan into its Belt and Road Initiative, but it likely has learned from America’s experience that even modest expectations in Afghanistan must be tempered,” Ryan Hass wrote.
No Biden Bounce
The Trends Journal reported on 30 March, “BIDEN VS. CHINA’S BELT & ROAD INITIATIVE: U.S. LOSES,” that The Council on Foreign Relations refers to BRI as a colossal infrastructure project that could “usher in a new era of trade and growth for economies in Asia and beyond.”
Biden has vowed that Beijing would not surpass Washington, D.C., in power during his term in the White House, and he is willing to invest heavily to follow through on the promise.
Haas wrote that China’s biggest boost from the U.S. withdrawal may be its ability to “advance a narrative of American decline.”
“Chinese propaganda officials likely will seek to exploit tragic images of America’s abandonment of Afghan partners as proof points of American unreliability and incompetence,” he wrote.
TREND FORECAST: As we have long noted, the business of America has been at war, and the business of China is business. The 20th century was the American century, and as we have forecast the 21st century will be China’s… and one of our 10 Top Trends for 2021, is “China 2021.”
Moreover, the United States and Europe will lose in the economic challenge against China. While President Biden stated that Beijing would not surpass Washington in power during his term in the White House, that has zero to do with U.S. policy or the Biden administration.
We forecast that the hard facts and analyses project China to surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest economy within a decade, and the U.S.—incapable of winning a war since WWII—would be defeated by China in a military confrontation.
And if they did go to war, it would mark the end of much of civilization since it would descend into a nuclear nightmare.