As the U.S. exits Afghanistan, Beijing is preparing to swoop into the war-torn country and fill the vacuum left by the departed U.S. and NATO troops.
China is poised to make an exclusive entry into post-U.S. Afghanistan with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source close to government officials in Afghanistan told The Daily Beast that Kabul authorities are growing more intensively engaged with China on an extension of the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — the flagship project of BRI, which involves the construction of highways, railways and energy pipelines between Pakistan and China — to Afghanistan…
In other words: The Afghan government, behind the scenes, is welcoming China immediately after saying goodbye to America.
Yup. All part of an obviously subversive plot. Here’s Uncle Sugar finishing decades of superb foreign policy – stationing tens of thousands of American troops in yet one more small nation to show off the benefits of American democracy [and military hardware]. We’re going out the door. Meanwhile, the “subversive” Chinese and their Pakistani allies in the Belt-and-Road Initiative are actually going to build highways, railways and energy pipelines – making the country a key link in East/West infrastructure. And profits.
How sly.
Eideard 
…And lots of jobs.
“The U.S. left Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base’s new Afghan commander, who discovered the Americans’ departure more than two hours after they left, Afghan military officials said.
Afghanistan’s army showed off the sprawling air base Monday, providing a rare first glimpse of what had been the epicenter of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks on America.
…Before the Afghan army could take control of the airfield about an hour’s drive from the Afghan capital Kabul, it was invaded by a small army of looters, who ransacked barrack after barrack and rummaged through giant storage tents before being evicted, according to Afghan military officials.” https://apnews.com/article/bagram-afghanistan-airfield-us-troops-f3614828364f567593251aaaa167e623
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 7th
(June 14, 2010): “Huge mineral wealth discovered in Afghanistian. How soon did we say we’re leaving?” https://eideard.com/2010/06/14/huge-mineral-wealth-discovered-in-afghanistian-how-soon-did-we-say-were-leaving/ (NYT): “…American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.” https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Long War Journal: https://www.longwarjournal.org/
“Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. But in 2010, US military officials and geologists revealed that the country, which sits at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, was sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1 trillion that could dramatically transform its economic prospects.
Supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold are scattered across the country. There are also rare earth minerals and, perhaps most importantly, what could be one of the world’s biggest untapped deposits of lithium — an essential but scarce component in rechargeable batteries and other technologies vital to tackling the climate crisis.” https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/business/afghanistan-lithium-rare-earths-mining/index.html
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert was condemned by politicians from both sides of the aisle for praising — and seemingly promoting — the Taliban on Monday after the group seized Afghanistan’s capital Kabul over the weekend.
“The Taliban are the only people building back better,” the freshman representative tweeted, using Biden’s own campaign slogan. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/rep-lauren-boebert-savaged-tweet-131304330.html
“With economic assets to secure, China embraces the Taliban : Afghanistan’s stability is key to protect a copper mine, oil blocks, $50bn of Belt-and-Road projects in the neighborhood.” https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/8/17/with-economic-assets-to-secure-china-embraces-the-taliban
“…Those interests make China look like the next great power with a stake in bringing order to Afghanistan as the Taliban prepare to declare an Islamic emirate in Kabul. After the failures of the Soviet Union and now the U.S., China will be hard pressed to avoid repeating the same mistakes in a rugged and landlocked nation notorious for exhausting empires.”