Editor's choice
      This is a members’ functionality. Please 
Sign upOpinion
        
      
    
   
  
    Trending
    
    
      Opinion: China may end up being the biggest beneficiary of the Taliban power-grab in Afghanistan
    
    24 August 2021
    Beijing can turn the situation in Afghanistan to its own advantage, argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed. Afghanistan has significant minerals, including rare earth metals, which China will be glad to import. Beijing  could also include Afghanistan in the “Belt and Road initiative” and use it as another land route towards Iran and the Central Asian republics via Pakistan, and through Iran via Turkey or via Armenia-Georgia-Black Sea route to Europe.