Like I've been saying. China always has their eye on the ball. The goods are close and available. Unless a conflict starts with all the Muslims starts up and the Taliban back them up.

The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs. Good article.

London (CNN Business)The swift fall of Afghanistan to Taliban fighters has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with thousands trying to flee the country. It's also brought renewed focus on Afghanistan's vast untapped mineral wealth, resources that could transform its economic prospects if ever developed.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest nations in the world. But in 2010, US military officials and geologists revealed that the country, which lies at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, was sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1
An opportunity for China?
trillion.

As I said in another thread. Instead of Road and Bridges it will be Rob and Beat. in Afghanistan.

China has some real opportunities in Afghanistan, if they can resist the urge to invade. If they don't invade Afghanistan, I see no reason why they can't do business. And if they pull it off, good on them.

There's a reason why Afghanistan is called the graveyard of empires...

If China wants to try their hand at it, let them. It would be good for Geo-political stability to let them wash up against those rocks.

Ha! Forgot the link to the article. Its a good short read. But you will see a pic of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in China on July 28, 2021 if you sroll down. Ole Baradar gets around.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/18/business ... index.html

You also wonder how the Taliban will react to the Chinese treatment of the Muslim Turkic Uyghur people in the Xinjiang province bordering Afghanistan?

Corrupt officials who hold office will always be bought off. The true-believers will be quietly disposed of by those with wealth and power.

China will move in to help the Taliban. They will be once of the first countries to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of the country. China will have no qualms about how the Taliban treats its women or manage its citizens so long as The Spice flows. And if grumblings for how China is treating their Muslim population happen in Afghanistan, the Taliban hierarchy will simply stamp it out.

Authoritarians know how to work with other Authoritarians.

The Taliban has made a lot of money through the drug trade, that says a lot about their "morals". They might preach fundamentalist Islam, but religion is about social control which they'll inflict on the Afghans. The Taliban hasn't changed.

China will be the new "great satan" to Afghans, Iranians, Pakistanis and others in that area. India and China have already had border skirmishes.