Follow us on social

150803-f-jf989-017-scaled

Lawmaker floats another reason to stay in Afghanistan: Keep minerals from China

As the May 1 deadline to withdraw nears, hawks' arguments for staying are getting more creative.

Reporting | Asia-Pacific

The United States should stay in Afghanistan because China wants the country’s mineral wealth, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R–Ill.) argued Monday.

Afghans “want the United States to stiffen their spine alongside NATO,” he told the audience at The Hill’s virtual Future of Defense summit. “If we pull out and NATO pulls out, I think it’s pretty obvious it’s going to be pretty difficult for the Afghan government to stay.”

“You look at, frankly, the mineral wealth of Afghanistan, you see how much China wants that to strengthen their grip on the world,” Kinzinger added.

Afghanistan sits atop between $1 trillion and $3 trillion of minerals, including vital rare earth minerals, according to various estimates. The Afghan government recently sought to renegotiate a major mining concession it granted China a decade ago as tensions flared up between the two countries, Foreign Policy reported in January.

Kinzinger's comments come only a few days after President Joe Biden said it will be “hard to meet” the Doha peace agreement with the Taliban, which requires that U.S. troops leave Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

“It is not my intention to stay there for a long time,” the president told reporters at a Thursday press conference. “We will leave. The question is when we leave.”

Kinziner, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, argued that the United States will be engaged in a “generational competition” with China.

Last week, the defense contractor Lockheed Martin cited competition with China as a reason why it should be able to get around antitrust laws.

Other officials have tried to use an alleged threat from China to justify longstanding U.S. military engagements in the region.

“You have to think in terms of the globe. You don’t have the luxury of focusing on any one theater,” argued General Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, in speech to the Middle East Institute last June. “One of the Wild West areas of competition is the [Middle East and Central Asia], where we see China moving in.”


U.S. Representative and Illinois Air National Guard Maj. Adam Kinzinger thanks Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Airmen for their service during an urban evasion tactics familiarization demonstration as part of the representative’s visit Aug. 3, 2015, at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. Col. Jonathan Duncan, the 336th Training Group commander, said it’s important for our nation’s leaders to understand the rigorous training requirements asked of our service men and women, especially those who are at risk of isolation and must survive as part of their “Return with Honor” mission statement. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton)
Reporting | Asia-Pacific
Benjamin Netanyahu
Top Image Credit: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the U.S. Independence Day reception, known as the annual "Fourth of July" celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem August 13, 2025. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool (ReutersConnect)

Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’ rhetoric takes an extreme turn

Middle East

As Israel’s war on Gaza escalates with IDF troops now moving to take over Gaza City, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been deploying more extreme language than usual to describe his plans for “total” victory over Hamas. He has eschewed ceasefire talks, and is instead leaning into his expansive vision for a “Greater Israel,” which not only includes an Israeli takeover of Gaza but of neighboring territories too.

His public remarks and media appearances over the last week have caused some to observe that the prime minister may be taking his approach, which is already heavily influenced by the hardline right wing in his cabinet, to an even more maximalist level.

keep readingShow less
Houthis Yemen
Top image credit: Houthi supporters shout slogans and hold up weapons during a protest against the US and Israel, in Sana a, Yemen, 15 August 2025. IMAGO/ Sanaa Yemen via REUTERS

Why Israel won't beat the Houthis

Middle East

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to "cut the hands" of Israel's enemies, but his specific target — Yemen's Houthi movement (Ansarullah) — has not only survived months of IDF and U.S. military pressure, but has also grown stronger with each confrontation.

The latest Israeli strike on Heyzaz power plant near Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, exemplifies this strategic failure: a symbolic attack on civilian infrastructure that inflicts severe hardship on Yemen's civilian population while doing nothing to degrade Houthi military capabilities.

keep readingShow less
Putin Trump
Top image credit: President Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the Billy Mitchell Room at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday, August 15, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

Did the Alaska Summit usher in a new ice age?

Global Crises

The Trump-Putin Alaska summit was about far more than Ukraine. Since long before the meeting in Anchorage, the Arctic has been recognized as a setting for U.S.-Russia cooperation.

Now, with the historic presidential summit in the unexpected location of Alaska, the Arctic has been confirmed as one of the key areas for the normalization of the bilateral relationship.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.