Fears over Taliban’s China deal
THE West’s decision to abandon Afghanistan has opened the country to worrying levels of Chinese influence, experts warned last night.
It follows a deal between Kabul and Beijing that will eventually give China access to sanction-proof oil from the Amu Darya basin.
Worth £440million, it marks the first agreement with the Taliban government since the extremists took control of the country in 2021.
The deal, signed with the stateowned China National Petroleum Corporation, will see pipelines built to carry oil directly to the Far East.
Inexperienced Taliban government officials re-heated an agreement originally made with the Us-backed Afghan government which was abandoned in 2011 due to security concerns.
That would have been worth £7billion to Afghanistan, allowing it to retain 70 per cent of its oil revenues, with China paying an additional 15 per cent in tax.
In its desperation for international recognition, however, the Taliban has now allowed China to secure much more favourable terms, leaving Afghanistan with just 20 per cent of revenues and a commitment to make China its exclusive customer.
David Doherty, head of oil research at strategic research company Bloombergnef said: “What China is looking for in energy terms is security of supply.
“If they can make this work, and achieve 200-300,000 barrels, use of a pipeline would mean no need to get ships, fleets and maritime insurance – in other words, it would make this supply virtually sanction-proof.” And it won’t end with oil. Afghanistan is technically one of the world’s most resource-rich countries, sitting on more than £3trillion worth of unmined copper, iron, marble, talc, coal, lithium, chromite, cobalt and gold.
Regional expert Kyle Orton said that US President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 opened the gates for China – which had already planted deep footprints in both neighbouring Pakistan and Iran – to increase its influence regionally.
He added: “We had a great advantage. We were keeping jihadists out while keeping our strategic rivals – the axis of China, Iran and Russia – weakened in the region.
“After August 2021 that flipped. The Taliban has an alliance with Pakistan and Pakistan has a semicolonial relationship with China.
“It means China is now spreading its influence across this region.”
But there are signs Beijing may not have it all its own way with resentment building.
Last week Pakistan authorities were forced to arrest a Chinese labourer after an angry mob accused him of blasphemy. He is alleged to have reprimanded two workers for spending too much time praying at the Chinese-funded Dasu hydropower dam.
Mr Orton said: “There is an increasing unease across the region about China’s growing influence.”
‘If they make this work it would make this supply sanction-proof’