countryboy wrote:Who in their right mind would want to do business in Afghnistan?Shoot your way in and shoot your way out.

China’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a $700 million oil exploration contract with the Afghan government last week, the first foreign company to do so in many decades. Mining Minister Wahidullah Shahrani hailed the deal as “historic,” saying it was “the first time that Afghanistan has signed a great contract for the country’s oil exploration.”
The agreement will intensify geopolitical rivalries in Central Asia as the major powers compete for access to vast mineral and energy resources. It will draw Beijing closer into conflict with the ongoing US-led occupation of Afghanistan, as well as with China’s regional rival, India......
The CNPC’s terms were considerably more generous than rival bidders such as British Tethys Petroleum, which said it was unable to compete with the Chinese corporation, because “it is the representative of a government and it was able to offer terms that were non-commercial.”
The CNPC’s primary aim is to ensure oil supplies to China. The three oil blocks are only 640 kilometres from the border of China’s western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a staging base for Chinese companies to build pipelines throughout Central Asia.
With the backing of cash-rich state banks, other Chinese companies are pushing into Afghanistan, which according to a survey by Pentagon in 2010, holds mineral resources worth $1 trillion, including oil, copper, gold and lithium........
The US has tacitly allowed China to establish a presence in Afghanistan, largely because such investments could improve the country’s financial self-sufficiency. At present, 90 percent of Afghan government spending depends on foreign aid. After the Aynak copper mine deal, Taliban insurgents stepped up their activities in Logar province, prompting the US to send 2,000 troops to the region.
Because of the unstable security situation, progress on Chinese investment projects has been slow over the past few years. As a result, China is completely dependent on the US and allied forces to provide protection, which could change if relations with Washington worsen........
A section of the US ruling elite has been critical of allowing Chinese corporations to “freeload” in Afghanistan, relying on American military protection. Strategic commentator Robert D. Kaplan wrote in 2009: “The problem is that while America is sacrificing its blood and treasure, the Chinese will reap the benefits. The whole direction of America’s military and diplomatic effort is toward an exit strategy, whereas the Chinese hope to stay and profit.”
Kaplan also argues for US dominance over the Indian Ocean, so as to be able to cut off China’s shipping lanes for oil and raw materials from the Middle East and Africa. In order to respond to the threat of such a US naval blockade, China is seeking to expand access to oil and gas in Central Asia and the Middle East via land routes. [See Danger Waters by Michael Klare, separate thread i just posted]
China’s “construction” assistance to Kabul of $200 million since 2001 is dwarfed by India’s $1.3 billion in aid, making New Delhi the biggest donor. Washington has backed India’s growing influence in Afghanistan, because India occupies an increasingly crucial position in Washington’s strategic calculations as a counterweight to China.........
India’s growing presence in Afghanistan is fuelling tensions with its neighbouring rival Pakistan, as well as with China. India’s press last week revealed a supposedly “secret” intelligence report warning that China, Islamabad’s key ally, plans to use or build military bases in northern Pakistan.
China’s quest to secure access to Afghanistan’s untapped oil resources will intensify the scramble for control over Central Asia. Given the reckless US escalation of what has become the AfPak war, the rivalry could evolve into a far more dangerous conflagration.