Coltan, Rare earth minerals, Thorium and Thorium Uranium the connection to China and Venezuela. ( Archived) (25)

you forgot the Sackcloth and Ashes!

I disagree with your assessment because:

The lure of Afghanistan as a war-torn Klondike is well established: In 2006, the George W. Bush administration conducted aerial surveys of the country to map its mineral resources. Under President Barack Obama, the Pentagon set up a task force to try to build a mining industry in Afghanistan

From Wikipedia
Mining in Afghanistan is controlled by the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, which is headquartered in Kabul with regional offices in other parts of the country. Afghanistan has over 1,400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semi-precious stones, salt, sulfur, talc, and zinc, among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emerald, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby. According to a joint study by The Pentagon and the United States Geological Survey, Afghanistan has an estimated US$3 trillion of untapped minerals.

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The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world

Afghanistan has abundant non-fuel mineral resources, including both known and potential deposits of a wide variety of minerals ranging from copper, iron, and sulfur to bauxite, lithium, and rare-earth elements.

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This assortment of rare earth elements includes, clockwise from top, praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium and gadolinium.

The aerial surveys determined that Afghanistan may hold 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, and lodes of aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. For instance, the Khanneshin carbonatite deposit in Afghanistan's Helmand province is valued at $89 billion, full as it is with rare earth elements.

The Afghan government has already signed a 30-year, $3 billion contract with the China Metallurgical Group, a state-owned mining enterprise based in Beijing, to exploit the Mes Aynak copper deposit, and awarded mining rights for the country's biggest iron deposit to a group of Indian state-run and private companies.



and Taliban are control a lot of area containing minerals i read week or so ago

I think China was probably the biggest winner from the Iraq war, it gained most from it
Kuwait, China sign agreements for $9bn project...
The project will secure Kuwait, the world's fourth-largest crude exporter, a solid outlet for its oil, ahead of competitors such as Venezuela, Russia and Qatar, all of which are planning refineries in China.

Kuwait aims to more than double its crude exports to China to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), versus last year's sales at just under 200,000 bpd.

Taliban have strengthened their grip across the nation. The Kabul government tenuously controls barely more than 50 percent of Afghanistan’s district

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lithium:
India has spent $3 billion in aid in Afghanistan and has massive goodwill in Afghan society—interestingly social media posts by Afghans supporting India in the latest India-Pakistan conflict viral. It has also moved the needle of its aid from civilian to military aid, providing two tranches of military helicopters—a total of eight to be concluded this year.

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Taliban, Islamic State Make Millions From Mining Afghan Minerals

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The lapis mines in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan region are a microcosm of a problem that is replicated across the country, where mining is the Taliban’s second biggest source of income.

The Chinese market is also a key driver for Afghanistan’s lapis mining, with the vast majority of lapis being exported to China where it is prized as jewellery. The fact that Chinese lapis sales are funding the Taliban comes in contrast to the Chinese government’s official position as peace-broker on Afghanistan in regional security talks.

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China has invested in security forces along Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan; pumped money into similar structures in Gilgit Baltistan; provided training, funding and equipment to Afghan forces; and has hardened its own direct border with Afghanistan.

Some of the routes of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” – Xi Jinping’s massive infrastructure plan – that cross the Eurasian continent would benefit from transit through Afghanistan. Beijing’s mineral extraction firms view the country’s natural resources with interest.

bit like brothers and sisters hehehe, American sanctions forced Russia into bed with China, however Russia also has good relationships with Japan, Vietnam, North Korea and India so until push becomes shove i dunno.

Russia and China share boarders and i really don't know how close that relationship actually is..

not very well informed,ain't you?