Today Cairo, Tomorrow Kabul. And how many Yank and Brit lawyers are watching, engaged and poised to dive in? See Reuters: “China steps up Afghan role as Western pullout nears“. Despite President Clinton’s famous quip that “there’s not much of anything to bomb”, Afghanistan has natural resources out the wazoo–and it has strategic geographical position. China and its government get that. Resources: gold, silver, copper, zinc and iron ore in southeast; lapis, emerald and azure in northeast; petroleum and natural gas reserves (substantial but indeterminate) in north. Plus uranium, coal, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, and salt. In the middle of Asia, Afghanistan has been a portal of trade and migration for centuries. And it connects Asia with the Middle East.
