China in Afghanistan: Rare Opportunity or Poisoned Chalice?

Beijing is best positioned to take advantage of the void left by the U.S. withdrawal.

By
Antonia Colibasanu
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1052

The foreign ministers of China and Afghanistan spoke for nearly an hour on Jan. 22 about Afghanistan’s economic development and ensuring the security of Chinese personnel involved in Afghan projects. This followed the signing on Jan. 5 of an oil extraction agreement between China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. and the Afghan Taliban […]

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Antonia Colibasanu
Antonia Colibasanu
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/author/acolibasanu/
Antonia Colibasanu is Senior Geopolitical Analyst at Geopolitical Futures and Senior Fellow for Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. She has published several works on geopolitics and geoeconomics, including "Geopolitics, Geoeconomics and Borderlands: A Study of a Changing Eurasia and Its Implications for Europe" and "Contemporary Geopolitics and Geoeconomics". She is also associate professor of geopolitics and geoeconomics on international relations at the Romanian National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. She is a senior expert associate with the Romanian New Strategy Center think tank and a member of the Scientific Council of Real Elcano Institute. Prior to Geopolitical Futures, Dr. Colibasanu spent more than 10 years with Stratfor in various positions, including as partner for Europe and vice president for international marketing. Prior to joining Stratfor in 2006, Dr. Colibasanu held a variety of roles with the World Trade Center Association in Bucharest. Dr. Colibasanu holds a master’s degree in International Project Management, and she is an alumna of the International Institute on Politics and Economics at Georgetown University. Her doctorate is in International Business and Economics from Bucharest’s Academy of Economic Studies, and her thesis focused on country-level risk analysis and investment decision-making processes by transnational companies.

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