February 4, 2023

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban And China Agree On Oil Extraction Deal. Afghanistan Is Estimated To Be Sitting On Natural Resources Including Natural Gas, Copper And Rare Earths Worth More Than $1tn.

This shows you why US President Joe Biden and the deep state players in the US aligned with Communist China handed over Afghanistan to the Taliban Islamic militants and according to CNN, even gave the Taliban $7 billion of military equipment after 2021 US withdrawal. Below is a snippit of the CNN article dated April 28, 2022:

"This equipment is now in a country that is controlled by the very enemy the US was trying to drive out over the past two decades: the Taliban. The Defense Department has no plans to return to Afghanistan to “retrieve or destroy” the equipment, reads the report, which has been provided to Congress.

The US gave a total of $18.6 billion of equipment to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) from 2005 to August 2021, according to the report. Of that total, equipment worth $7.12 billion remained in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal was completed on August 30, 2021. It included aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment and other materials, according to the DoD report." (emphasis mine)

UPDATE 2/4/23 at 3:20pm: I want to shared a recent article by Heritage Foundation regarding the Biden and Communist China connection and how Biden is helping to undermine America's wellbeing. Below is a snippit of the Heritage article Do Chinese Donations Explain Biden’s Energy Policies? dated January 20, 2023:

"Over the last year, executive branch agencies have used climate change to justify slowing the production and delivery of U.S. oil, natural gas, and coal, and to encourage the use of wind turbines and solar panels made in China. This drives up Americans’ electricity bills. And, once again, it’s the Chinese who profit: Seven of the top 10 wind and solar manufacturers are Chinese.

Led by BlackRock Inc. and State Street Global Advisors, major financial institutions are pressuring international development organizations, private corporations, and pension funds not to invest in conventional fuels. This weakens America, which produces these fuels, and helps China, which manufactures the alternatives—wind turbines and solar panels—using coal-fired power plants.

ESG means fewer jobs for Americans, more jobs for the Chinese.

As my colleague, Heritage Action for America Executive Director Jessica Anderson, explains, “The ESG movement is set on taking over culture and business to control working Americans.”

On its website, State Street suggests four ways to influence companies’ investments, all of which would benefit China. First, require countries to adopt regulations to reduce carbon emissions. Second, raise consciousness of climate change through “more ESG education, guidance, solutions, and analytics.” Third, take over corporate boards and use customers and investors “to compel companies and organizations to address climate risks and opportunities.” Finally, organize global pledges to cut fossil fuel carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050.

By following the ESG movement and discouraging investments in conventional fuels, America is giving up geopolitical power overseas as well as economic strength at home. For example, China is financing the production of coal-fired power plants in developing countries that American institutions refuse to fund, giving the Chinese significant influence as it helps those countries provide cheap power to homes and industry.

Some might justify these “gifts” to China on the grounds that the world’s climate will benefit from lower emissions as a result of U.S. decarbonization. But China is producing the wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries it sells to the U.S. with coal, increasing global emissions.

Consider that America has 225 coal-fired power plants and China has 1,118 (half of all the coal-fired plants in the world). Since 2010, America has reduced coal-fired electricity generation by 100,000 megawatts; China has increased it by 580,000 megawatts. Between 2005 and 2020, America cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 970 million metric tons, while China increased its emissions by 4,689 million metric tons.

Many people have been puzzled that Biden has oriented American energy policy toward a country that enslaves its people, steals intellectual property from the United States, and threatens our allies and partners.

The ongoing federal investigation into son Hunter’s multimillion-dollar Chinese business deals and the reports of tens of millions of dollars in Chinese donations flowing to the University of Pennsylvania just as it was creating Biden’s new think tank may give a clue as to why."
CCTV Video News Agency published January 6, 2023: China, Afghanistan Sign Oil Extraction Deal. The interim Afghan government has signed a deal with a Chinese company to extract oil in the country's northern Amu Darya river basin.

Strait Talk published January 17, 2023: China to Pour $540M Into Afghanistan As Part of Oil Deal.

For many in the international community, the Taliban has fallen short of its promises that would have led to its diplomatic recognition. But one country is looking past those shortcomings. Earlier this month, China and the Taliban signed an oil extraction agreement. It was the Taliban's first major foreign deal since taking power in 2021 and comes amid dramatic shifts in regional power balances.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, the Taliban's top petroleum official said the deal would extract oil from the northern Sar-e Pul, Jawzjan, and Faryab provinces. China, according to Taliban officials, will invest 150 million dollars a year under the contact, and will create 3,000 local jobs. A year after the US's chaotic withdrawal, and Russia's own distraction from its ongoing assault on Ukraine, China has emerged as the premier power looking to tap the country's vast resources, estimated to be worth more than 1 trillion dollars. This latest oil deal came a day after the Taliban said its forces had killed eight Daesh members, including some who were behind an attack last month on a hotel in Kabul, frequented by Chinese businessmen.
 
BBC News, UK
written by Peter Hoskins
Friday Janaury 6, 2023

Afghanistan's Taliban government is to sign a contract with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in the country's north.

It would be first major energy extraction agreement with a foreign firm since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

The 25-year deal underscores China's economic involvement in the region.

On Thursday Taliban officials said security forces had targeted Islamic State group militants who attacked a hotel used by Chinese businessmen.

Eight IS militants were killed and several more arrested, the Taliban said.

December's attack on the Longan Hotel in Kabul saw at least three people killed and 18 more injured, including five Chinese citizens.

The oil extraction agreement would see Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Company (CAPEIC) drilling for oil in the Amu Darya basin, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.

"The Amu Darya oil contract is an important project between China and Afghanistan," China's ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu told a news conference in the capital Kabul.

A Chinese state-owned company is also in talks over the operation of a copper mine in the east of the country.

Afghanistan is estimated to be sitting on natural resources - including natural gas, copper and rare earths - worth more than $1tn.

However, much of those reserves remain untapped due to decades of turmoil in the country.

Beijing has not formally recognised Afghanistan's Taliban administration but it has significant interests in the country, which is at the centre of a region important to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Launched by Xi Jinping in 2013, the BRI provides financing for emerging countries to build infrastructure like ports, roads and bridges.
 
NewsX published January 6, 2023: Xi’s Oil Exploration deal with Taliban | Will Taliban protect Chinese against TTP? China has struck an oil exploration deal with the Taliban - this in hopes of putting an end to the repeated terror attacks on Chinese personnel in Pakistan by the banned Taliban Tehrike Pakistan - and more importantly China's initiative to prosper- with Afghanistan as its strategic territory for it. On the other hand - the TTP continues attacks unabated on the Pakistani military. Watch NewsX's Megha Sharma discuss this issue with other panelists.

BBC News, UK
written by Staff
Thursday January 12, 2023

A suicide bomb attack outside the Afghan foreign ministry in Kabul has caused heavy casualties.

Police said at least five civilians had been killed but another Taliban official put the toll as high as 20.

The local offshoot of the Islamic State group, known as Isis-K, claimed it carried out the attack.

It comes after recent blasts targeting foreign interests. Several countries, including Turkey and China, have embassies in the area.

The attack took place about 16:00 local time (11:30 GMT) when the bomber tried, but failed to enter the ministry building itself, the Taliban said.

"I saw the man blowing himself up," said Jamshed Karimi, a driver who was waiting outside the ministry.

Mr Karimi told AFP that he saw a man holding a bag and with a rifle slung over his shoulder walk past. "He passed by my car and after a few seconds there was a loud blast."

The building itself did not appear to be badly damaged. At the nearby interior ministry, window panes were also shattered by the explosion.

But the Italian humanitarian agency, Emergency NGO in Kabul said it had received more than 40 wounded people and the casualty numbers were continuing to rise.

Kabul police described the attack as cowardly, adding in a statement that the perpetrators would be held accountable.

Isis-K said in a post on Telegram that the blast killed at least 20 people. It also said "several 'diplomatic' employees" were among the dead, in a claim that could not be independently verified.

Afghan journalist Aisha Ahmad later tweeted that her uncle, a senior diplomat, was killed in the blast.

"Words cannot express my sorrow," she said.

Earlier reports had suggested a Chinese delegation was due to hold talks with the Afghan officials inside the foreign ministry building at the time of the attack.

But a senior official in the prime minister's office told AFP that no foreigners were present.

When asked about the attack, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China "strongly condemns" it and expressed hopes that the Afghan government could protect citizens from all countries, including Chinese nationals.

A string of attacks has targeted foreigners or foreign interests in recent months, at a time when the Taliban is trying to attract investment from neighbouring countries.

Afghanistan has been rocked by dozens of blasts since the Taliban seized power last year, mostly claimed by Isis-K.

Correspondents say that the Taliban tend to underplay casualty figures in such incidents.

🚨👇 BONUS RELATED NEWS 👇🚨
The Telegraph Jan 10, 2023: Taliban release first 'Mada-9' supercar in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have hailed the unveiling of the country's first homegrown 'supercar'.

A sleek, black sports car took to the snowy streets of the capital after a five-year building project by engineers at a Kabul technical and vocational training institute. Video clips showed former insurgents gathered around the vehicle as it purred through potholed streets far more likely to see pick-up trucks full of armed men than racing cars.

The prototype vehicle, called the Mada-9, is reported to be the creation of a company called ENTOP.
BBC News published January 24, 2023: Many dead as Afghanistan experiences coldest winters in years.

At least 124 people have died in freezing temperatures in Afghanistan in the past fortnight, Taliban officials say.

About 70,000 livestock had also perished in what is the coldest winter in a decade, a State Ministry for Disaster Management spokesman said.

Many aid agencies suspended operations in recent weeks after the Taliban banned Afghan women from working for non-governmental organisations.

A Taliban minister said despite the deaths, the edict would not be changed.

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