Sébastien Le Belzic (in China)
The Taliban have signed a commercial contract with a Chinese company for the exploitation of oil in northern Afghanistan. The first major agreement signed since their return to power in August 2021, it is a sign that the communist regime is determined to do business with the fundamentalists.
This is a first recognition for the Taliban. They signed a commercial contract with a Chinese company for the exploitation of oil in the north of Afghanistan. The Taliban have been waiting for this since their return to power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. This is the first major trade agreement with a foreign company. And not just any, since it is a Chinese public consortium, the Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC). He obtained the oil exploitation rights for 25 years in the region of the Amu Darya basin, a river which serves as a natural border between Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
A first major chord
This agreement is a sign that the communist regime is determined to do business with the fundamentalists. And further proof of the direct involvement of the communist regime because it was Wang Yu, Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, who signed this contract. “Over the past year, relevant departments of the Chinese and Afghan governments have implemented high-level consensus between the two sides to sustainably revive this project,” he said.
China will invest 150 million dollars the first year, then half a billion the following three years. The Taliban government says that other contracts will follow with China, but also with Russia and Iran. The riches of the Afghan subsoil are estimated at more than 1,000 billion dollars.