US Won’t Sacrifice $1 Trillion Of Mineral Bounty In Afghanistan

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has recently removed the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations on Friday, indicating that the UN may soon recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The current scenario, however, in Afghanistan is not getting any better, with the Americans ramping up their efforts to exploit the $1 Trillion of minerals in Kabul before it leaves. After Thursday’s blast—which is said to be linked to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS-K—that killed over 90 Afghans and 13 American troops, Biden has vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. He said Friday’s strike was not the last and the state department stressed that the threat is “credible” and “specific”.
“We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,” he said.

The Taliban, in response, criticized Washington’s escalation. “The Americans should have informed us before conducting the airstrike. It was a clear attack on Afghan territory,” a Taliban spokesman told Reuters, adding that two women and a child were wounded in the attack.
Now, Washington will seize the so-called terrorism in Kabul to keep its foot in Afghanistan. But the question is: Who funded ISIS from the very beginning? The so-called war on terror—that started after the 9/.11 attacks—prompted a chain of events, which are not just confined to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, but Europe as well. Islamophobia, for instance, is dramatically increasing since the onset of the so-called war on terror.

Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui, a researcher, writer, and award-winner writes: “The war on terror, as purposely broad and vague a term it is, which is intrinsically connected to Afghanistan, is what gave birth to the global Islamophobia industry that is thriving today and benefitting many of the oppressive nations you or your parents are from (including Palestine and Modi’s India) and is harming YOU.

The imperialist leaders, nonetheless, who justify their intervention in the region under the guise of fighting terrorism, are the ones who funded such organizations with Millions of dollars in the past. It’s worth mentioning that the US itself funded Al-Qaeda and Al-Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, to curb the soviet expansion during the cold war. According to official reports, President Carter provided $500,000 worth of non-lethal assistance to Al- Mujahidin.

The US, again, is going to rely on the anti-terrorism rhetoric as Washington is aware enough that completely withdrawing from Afghanistan means giving more space to China.

Dingding Chen, a Professor of International Relations at Jinan University, writes: “The U.S. decision to withdraw from Afghanistan has opened new geopolitical space for China in the greater Middle East region and Central Asia. There is no doubt that China would gain major benefits in Central Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East now as the U.S. influence in those regions continues to fade.”

Iran, too, seems very interested in Afghanistan. Though Iran has been critical of the Taliban for decades, the Iranian government ordered its news media outlets to slow down their criticism of the group’s takeover. Now, the future of the Afghans is uncertain, given the struggle for power between the international actors. At the end of the day, the US won’t leave space for China, Iran, Russia, and Germany to seize the economic opportunities in Kabul. Ironically, the ongoing attacks in Afghanistan work in the best interest of Washington. And conspiracy theorists argue that the US itself may have been involved in such attacks to keep its foot in Kabul.