The finger-pointing is not surprising. For Afghanistan’s neighbors and for Europe, it’s not just about America’s standing in the world. There are key domestic imperatives.Turkey was first to warn of the potential for an influx of Afghan refugees via Iran.
That’s an alarming scenario for Europe’s political class, still scarred by the refugee crisis of 2015 triggered by the civil war in Syria that fed anti-immigrant sentiment, exposing the continent’s deep, lingering, divisions over the issue.
It still has potentially big ramifications today.President Emmanuel Macron’s main challenge in France’s presidential elections in April is likely to be from anti-immigration politicians. The campaign for Germany’s September election is suddenly reverberating with loaded rhetoric on immigration, adding to an already unpredictable race.
Armin Laschet, the lead conservative candidate, insisted there will be “no repeat of 2015,” when Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted some 1 million refugees. The Greens demanded the government focus on evacuating as many Afghans who worked for western nations as possible rather than talking of “refugee waves.”
Whether Afghans will make a dash for Europe is open to question. But the debate is a potent example of the political fallout from the Taliban’s victory over the West.
Either way, the ripples from Kabul’s fall are only just being felt.
Vir: Bloomberg
DAMIJAN blog 
Zakaj so šli američani v Afganistan. Zaradi več razlogov:
– najjprej, da se vzpostavi mostišče do držav srednje Azije (“Stan-i”), ki predstavljajo mehki trebuh Rusije. Od tu bi se širil vpliv na te države, ki imajo obsežne zaloge naravnih bogatstev (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan – plin, nafta,…) in ki bi lahko služile kot nadalnja odskočna deska za destabilizacijo Rusije skozi radikalizacijo njene 25 milijonske muslimanske skupnosti
– odsočna deska za radikalizacijo Uigurov in posledično destabilizacijo Kitajske. Glej kdo je oborožil in usposabljal več 10 tisoč glavo uigursko frakcijo islamske države v Siriji-
– Afganistan je bila tranzitna država za načrtovani plinovod iz Uzbekistana v Pakistanin naprej v Indijo (ki je bila mimogrede ena največjih investitorjev v Afganistan za časa ameriške okupacije)
– Afganistan je zakladnica mineralov Glej:
Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box, the legendary investor and founder of Hayman Capital said “Afghanistan is plagued with the curse of plenty. They have, we think, upwards of $3T worth of minerals. The US Pentagon believes one province … has the largest lithium deposit in the world,” adding “China will move in under security and diplomatic guise.”
As we noted in 2010, nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits were identified in Afghanistan, far more than any previously known reserves – and a figure which has risen in recent years to more than $3 trillion.
Rare earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth between $1 trillion and $3 trillion in 2020, according to a report in news magazine The Diplomat, citing Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a former diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C. A report by American news organization The Hill earlier this year put the value at about $3 trillion.
…
Afghanistan has rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and veins of aluminium, gold, silver, zinc, mercury, and lithium, according to Katawazai. Rare earths are used in everything from electronics to electric vehicles, and satellites and aircraft.
In 2017, just-fled Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was in talks with Germany about lithium deposits in Helmand province, which could be mined by European countries to make batteries for smart phones, electric vehicles and other technology.
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