US troops kill civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan future in BRI China Mining rare earths, Chabahar port

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In a shocking development, several people have been killed at Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul on Monday, after US troops opened fire, reports told

In a shocking development, several people have been killed at Hamid Karzai International airport in Kabul on Monday, after US troops opened fire, reports local news agency Tolo News. According to reports, the Afghan airspace has been shut amid firing, with all commercial flights being suspended. While Taliban has taken over Kabul, 6000-strong US military is currently taken control of the airport's perimeter overseeing evacuation.

Earlier in the day, visuals from the Kabul airport showed panic and chaos as thousands of people attempted to flee from Afghanistan at the earliest. As per visuals, many civilians were injured on the tarmac as they rushed to get on the plane. Also, the airport staff were missing from the check-in counters and security checks. Many countries like UK, Germany, Canada and India are preparing for safe evacuation of its nationals from the war-torn nation.

Chinese investments in Afghanistan include a new coal-fired power station, a rail network connecting five countries stretching from Iran to China, mineral mining contracts and various road and infrastructure projects.

Among the country’s resources are lithium and rare earth elements (REEs), both critical for electric vehicle batteries and tech devices like smartphones. Iron ore and copper were estimated to be present in quantities that were large enough to make the country a major global producer of both.

Last year, The Diplomat published an article by Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a member of Afghanistan’s Academy of Sciences and a former diplomat at the Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C., that raised the estimated value of Afghanistan’s minerals to as much as $3 trillion.

Looking at just the REEs, Katawazai cited a USGS estimated deposit of 1.1 million to 1.4 million metric tons. If that turned out to be true, Afghanistan’s deposits would rank near the United States and Greenland, which are each estimated to have 1.5 million metric tons of REEs. China, the world’s richest in REE deposits, has an estimated 44 million metric tons of the elements.