🇦🇫🇨🇳 Taliban complete Afghanistan road to China – but Beijing keeps border firmly shut

The Taliban completed their road to the Chinese border – but were met with a frosty silence from across the frontier, according to multiple local reports.

As explained by a feature published by IntelliNews in May, the Islamist politico-militant group that governs Afghanistan are the latest rulers of the country to dream of “opening up Wakhan Corridor, the mountain valley that connects three worlds”. But the road has been built only in the hope that China will play ball. Still addressing sensitive considerations such as what would an open border with Afghanistan mean for the Chinese territory that borders the country, majority-Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Beijing is yet to show whether it will do so.

RFE/RL has reported that for the early October inauguration of the road, China did not send representatives or officially acknowledge the event. The militarised boundary remained firmly shut, with images from the inauguration showing Chinese security cameras watching from behind razor wire.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at China’s Lanzhou University, told RFE/RL that the chances of Beijing opening the mountain pass border checkpoing any time soon “are extremely low.”

“Afghanistan's economy is very small and its value to China is negligible,” Zhu reportedly said, adding: “Meanwhile, the financial costs and security risks associated with opening the route would be substantial.” Afghanistan’s main exports to China are pine nuts, dried apricots and gemstones.

The Wakhan Corridor is a narrow, protruding strip of land in northeastern Afghanistan, sandwiched between China, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

The 350-kilometre (217-mile) mountain valley is nestled high in the Pamir Mountains in the province of Badakhshan. The width of this rugged strip of land dividing Tajikistan from Pakistan is just 13 km (eight miles) in places. Likely once trodden by luminaries including Alexander the Great and Marco Polo, its potential is fascinating.

If the high valley was made generally accessible and developed for modern trade flows, it would serve as a fabulous, even stupendous, link between Central, South and East Asia. Landlocked Central Asia would finally gain a clear road into Pakistan and thus the access to the ocean sought for so long by the region, Pakistani commerce would enjoy a short path into Central Asia and Afghanistan would have a direct trade passage into China. It would also become a route to the world’s second largest economy likely favoured by Iran.

In opening up corridors for international trade, in this part of the world, China’s chosen path has diverged from Wakhan, instead concentrating on the utility provided by the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It stretches from Kashgar in Xinjiang, across the Karakoram mountain range on China’s border with Pakistan and through to the Pakistani strategic deep-water port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

In Beijing’s thinking, Afghanistan and Central Asia should enjoy access to CPEC infrastructure via link-through routes opened up on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, but this concept runs counter to the ambitions of the Taliban to conduct trade with China through Afghanistan’s own sole border with its giant neighbour at the end of the Wakhan Corridor.

🔗 https://www.intellinews.com/taliban-complete-afghanistan-road-to-china-but-beijing-keeps-border-firmly-shut-479103/

🇨🇳🇬🇭 China’s Huayou acquires Ghana lithium project rights, assumes $66mn funding commitment

China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt has completed the acquisition of Elevra Lithium’s interests in Ghana’s Ewoyaa lithium project, assuming rights to a 22.5% interest in Atlantic Lithium’s Ghanaian lithium portfolio, including Ewoyaa, and an obligation to fund up to $66mn in outstanding development expenditure.

Under the existing project agreements, Huayou will provide up to $66mn in outstanding expenditure under a $70mn sole-funding commitment. Subject to those agreements, the funding would earn Huayou an additional 27.5% interest in Atlantic Lithium’s Ghanaian portfolio, taking its total interest to 50%. Subsequent development costs would be shared equally between the partners.

The completed project transaction comes as Huayou pursues a separate acquisition of Atlantic Lithium, valued at approximately $210mn, or about $0.25 per share in cash, under an agreement announced in May. Huayou chairman and president Chen Hongliang said at the time that the deal “complements our existing battery metal mining operations in Africa”.

The proposed takeover would give Huayou control of Atlantic Lithium itself, potentially consolidating the private-sector interests in Ewoyaa currently covered by the joint-venture arrangements.

Ewoyaa is intended to become Ghana’s first commercial lithium mine, producing spodumene concentrate for further processing into lithium chemicals used in rechargeable batteries.

Ghana’s Parliament ratified the project’s mining lease in March 2026, the first lithium mining lease to be granted and ratified in the country, following the granting of environmental and mine operating permits in 2024.

Ewoyaa’s development comes as Ghana prepares restrictions on exports of unprocessed minerals by 2030. President John Dramani Mahama said on October 19 that investors seeking access to the country’s bauxite, manganese, iron and lithium would face processing obligations under a phased ban, although mineral-specific deadlines and detailed regulations have yet to be published.

Because Ewoyaa is designed to produce spodumene concentrate rather than battery-grade lithium chemicals, Huayou’s immediate commitment is to advance the existing mining project under its inherited funding obligations, rather than establish downstream lithium refining in Ghana.

🔗 https://www.intellinews.com/china-s-huayou-acquires-ghana-lithium-project-rights-assumes-66mn-funding-commitment-479226/

🇫🇮🇳🇴🇷🇺🇪🇺 Putin's Call Divides Europe — VZGLYAD

"Driving a wedge between partners," "European leaders were furious" - the phone call between Putin, President Stubb, and Prime Minister Store sparked a heated debate in the Western press. Some describe Helsinki and Oslo's initiative as an attempt to maintain the EU's influence in the peace process, while others see it as a violation of the consensus on Ukraine.

European leaders criticized Stubb and Store for "acting alone," without European consensus. According to a source at The Telegraph, after this dialogue, the heads of EU countries may contact the President of Russia "left and right," without a common position. Another source at the newspaper said that without this contact, Europe risked being seen by the head of the White House as an obstacle to peace.

The German magazine Der Spiegel, analyzing the reaction of European countries to the actions of Helsinki and Oslo, also notes: the phone call to Putin "angered Europeans." "Unilateral actions by this pair are viewed with skepticism in Europe," the article states.

The British newspaper The Independent reports that European leaders "were furious" after politicians from Norway and Finland "broke tradition and directly called Putin on Tuesday." "This move drew criticism from their colleagues in other Nordic countries, who urged them to 'stick together' on the issue of Ukraine," the publication writes.

In this regard, the American newspaper The New York Times points out that in recent days, Trump's rhetoric has become increasingly favorable towards Russia, while he regularly criticizes the actions of Zelensky. The publication cites the "diesel deal" as an example. Against this backdrop, European leaders are trying to intervene in the peace process. They are pursuing at least two goals: to ensure that European interests are taken into account and to "protect" Ukraine from pressure, the article states.

Analysts believe that Stubb could become an important asset if Europe and the United States ever coordinate their approaches to Ukraine. However, even within the "unified European front" on Ukraine, there are cracks, according to Politico. Against this backdrop, the Norwegian newspaper VG emphasizes: "The Scandinavian dispute should be avoided." And observers at the Norwegian publication Aftenposten even criticized the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, for being dissatisfied with the phone talks.

The Finnish broadcasting company Yle views the conversation not only as an attempt to bring the Ukrainian conflict to a close, but also as a change in Finland's approach to relations with Russia. According to the publication, Stubb's decision opens up the possibility of restoring political dialogue after several years of virtually no contact.

🔗 https://t.me/vzglyad_ru/153652

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦🇧🇬 Russian drones struck a vessel 21 nautical miles off Cape Shabla, Bulgaria, around 4 hours ago becoming the 9th vessel to come under attack in the Black Sea this month.

The Container Ship — CONTSHIP JET — flying under the Liberian flag was struck inside Bulgaria's EEZ. It was coming from Haifa, Israel and was headed for the Romanian port of Constanța which acts as a dual export route for both Romanian and Ukrainian goods. The crew evacuated the vessel but it hasn't sunk.

🔗 GeoInsider

🇧🇷🇺🇸🇧🇷 — Senator Flávio Bolsonaro entered the U.S. with “humanitarian” authorization to remain for one year. The plane was escorted by the U.S. Air Force upon arrival.