Afghanistan/China: Contract Breach or Banditry? Inside the Collapse of the Taliban's Oil Deal with China

Aug 29, 2025 | Anthony Kuhn and Vincent Ni
NPR
View Original

Turbaned Afghan officials and hard-hatted Chinese engineers gathered in Afghanistan's Sar-e-Pul province in 2023 to mark the opening of Chinese-invested oil fields. The fields are located in the Amu Darya River basin, a major Central Asian watershed that includes glacier-capped mountains and vast, arid deserts.