From day one, the Taliban were pining high hopes on China, Russia, and Iran to invest in Afghanistan in different fields. Taliban seized power in August 2021 and the leadership had repeatedly said they want to have good ties with the world, especially with the neighbors and regional countries. The Taliban is also willing to have more contribution from Pakistan but the country itself is marred with so many economic difficulties.
Afghanistan under the Taliban is indeed suffering from immense economic trouble. Poverty has reached its peak with almost zero-jot opportunities. Over half of the estimated 35 million populations are living below the poverty line.
The US also froze some $9 billion in Afghan assets as what Washington describes to save the money from the hand of Taliban. But, on a monthly basis, the Taliban administration has been receiving some $10 million on a weekly basis, making it $40 million in a month. However, some unconfirmed reports say that this money has not been transformed to the Taliban in the past three weeks. Meanwhile, the Taliban has been looking for alternative and other business models to help improve its fragile economy.
Oil extrication agreement
The Taliban has signed a contract with China’s CAPEIC (Xinjiang Central Asia Oil and Gas Company) to extract oil from northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin. This agreement is an apparent attempt to bolster Afghanistan’s increasingly impoverished and isolated economy. The agreement with CAPEIC is the first major international energy extraction deal the Taliban has signed since taking control of the country in 2021.
The contract was signed in the capital Kabul in the presence of Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu.
Speaking in the signing ceremony, Baradar said several projects were approved by the Economic Commission, and with their undertaking, fundamental steps will be taken assuming the prosperity of the country and public welfare.
Calling the oil extraction contract as a crucial step towards the country reaching self-sufficiency, he called on the Chinese company to work in accordance with international standards and to provide local people with public benefits.
Amu Darya basin is located in Sar-e-Pul province, and Baradar seemed happy that the project will provide jobs to the people to improve their economic situation.
Taliban’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar said oil will be extracted from an area covering 4,500 square kilometers across parts of Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan and Faryab provinces.
“At least 3,000 people would get work opportunities once the extraction work starts,” according to a statement by the Taliban. It said that 200 tons of oil would be extracted initially in a day and the quantity would increase to 1,000 tons a day gradually.
$150 million investment for initial period
Indeed, such an agreement will boost the economic situation and a good step toward further improving relations between Kabul and Beijing. “This contract is important for the economic growth and self-sufficiency of Afghanistan,” China’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu said as he sees the agreement as a good illustration of alliance and interaction between the two countries.
Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid said that the Chinese company will invest $150 million a year in Afghanistan under the contract, and its investment would increase to $540 million in three years. The contract period is for the 25-year.
As per the estimates, the Amu Darya basin holds over 80 million barrels of crude oil and in 2012, China’s state-owned company National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed a contract with Afghanistan’s previous government to extract oil from the basin.
The fresh contract came at a time when Afghanistan is in desperate need to boost its economy as international funding has remained largely frozen since the Taliban returned to power.
China opens for investment despite security threat
Already facing a lack of formal recognition and sanctions hampering the country’s banking sector, investors are faced with growing security concerns, especially after the Islamic State (IS) aka Daesh terrorist group attacked on foreign targets in Kabul.
This month, three unidentified armed men opened fire inside the multi-storey Kabul Longan Hotel, a residency popular with Chinese nationals, in central Kabul, wounding five Chinese. Taliban forces gunned down all the three attackers.
“We are happy that China did not stop investment after the hotel attack,” said an official at the Interior Ministry. Speaking to Harici, the official said that there was fear that the attack could prompt some re-thinking among the Chinese investors. “We are happy to see that China signed the agreement and we are ready to work day and night to maintain security for such investments,” he said, wishing anonymity.
Taliban’s Acting Commerce Minister, Haji Nooruddin Azizi had recently said that they will support any project which can help Afghanistan to reach self-sufficiency.
“We will start a national self-sufficiency program, we will encourage all government administrations to use domestic products, and we will also try to encourage people through mosques to support our domestic products,” Azizi said in an interview with Reuters. “
Referring to the hotel attack, Azizi said that they take every step to protect the businessmen from any harm. “The attack hasn’t had any bad impact, but if it happened constantly, yes it might have a bad impact,” he said, referring to the investment environment.
Azizi furthered that countries including Iran, Russia and China were interested in trade and investment in Afghanistan, adding that some of the projects under discussion were Chinese industrial parks and thermal power plants, with involvement from Russia and Iran.
