Individual Economists

Interpreting The Taliban's Invitation For American Investments

Zero Hedge -

Interpreting The Taliban's Invitation For American Investments

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

This was arguably a preemptive de-escalation move that would also gauge the US' intentions...

The New York Times (NYT) interviewed Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul as part of their coverage of the fifth anniversary of the Taliban's return to power. Muttaqi invited the US to reopen its embassy and invest in his country's minerals, dams, and roads. He also declared that "We consider the chapter of war to have come to an end, and from now on, we want relations based on mutual respect and a new chapter of positive engagement." This new policy requires some interpretation.

After all, Trump has repeatedly called for the return of US forces to Bagram Airbase and the US has pivoted to the Taliban's new Pakistani enemy over the past year and a half of his second term, both of which the NYT mentioned as possible obstacles. The Taliban also refuses to return the US arms and equipment that were left in Afghanistan while denying that it's holding a dual Afghan-American citizen prisoner. The State Department thus predictably told the NYT that bilateral ties won't be normalized.

Two of the experts that the NYT interviewed referenced Trump 2.0's business-driven foreign policy, ergo why some might be surprised that the State Department rejected normalizing bilateral ties as a quid pro quo for presumably privileged access to Afghanistan's rare earth minerals wealth. This goes to show that geostrategy, not geo-economics, is presently determining Trump 2.0's policy towards Afghanistan. Interestingly enough, however, it's the opposite with the Taliban. Here are three background briefings:

* 2 July: "Reviewing Russia's Latest UNSC Briefing On Afghanistan"

* 19 July: "Lavrov Warned That Western Arms & Ammo Are Being Sent From Ukraine To ISIS-K In Afghanistan"

* 16 August: "Five Reflections On The Fifth Anniversary Of The Taliban's Return To Power"

In a nutshell, Pakistan is passively facilitating the flow of arms to ISIS-K as part of its undeclared war with Afghanistan, which the US discreetly approves of as a means of pressuring the Taliban into complying with its demands. If the Taliban were weakened or deposed, they might not ever regain their former strength due to their historical Pakistani patron having cut them off and their new Russian military-technical partner being unable to replace the multifaceted support that Islamabad previously provided.

The end result could be the re-subjugation of Afghanistan, but this time as a US-Pakistani client state that would serve as a launchpad for expanding their military and economic influence into Central Asia, which aligns with Trump 2.0's Neo-Reagan Doctrine of rolling back Russian influence. Turkiye is already poised to do the same from the west via August 2025's "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity", which also functions as a NATO military logistics corridor, so the combined effect could be profound.

Given the grand strategic consequences if the US and Pakistan successfully re-subjugate Afghanistan, there's a certain logic to why Trump 2.0 rejected the rare earth minerals opportunity that the Taliban offered it. The group arguably did this as a preemptive de-escalation move that would also gauge the US' intentions, which are now crystal clear. Looking forward, joint US-Pakistani pressure on Afghanistan is therefore expected to increase, which could lead to an increase in Russian-Taliban military-technical ties.

Tyler Durden Sun, 09/06/2026 - 08:10

Is This Peak 'Clown World'?

Zero Hedge -

Is This Peak 'Clown World'?

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Transport for London has dropped a dog house-shaped "calm space" onto the concourse at Ealing Broadway station and called it progress.

The tiny pod features a bench, noise-dampening acoustics and a "soothing" forest mural. They claim that it is part of an effort to "boost accessibility for neurodivergent travellers under TfL's Equity in Motion strategy," whatever that means.

Massive backlash has ensued, with many questioning this as a priority over train delays, complete lack of air conditioning on many lines, poor cleanliness, broken escalators and an epidemic of fare dodgers costing £190 million a year.

The kennel is part of TFL's 'Equity in Motion' scheme, a 'customer inclusion plan' launched in February 2024 which it claims will make travel "fairer, safer, more inclusive and more accessible."

Mark Evers, who leads customer insight, strategy and experience at TfL, told Ealing.News: "Everyone should be able to travel confidently and independently across London, and we know that busy environments can sometimes pose a barrier and be overwhelming, particularly for our neurodivergent customers."

"These trials will help us understand how we can better support customers who might need to take some time out when using our services," he added.

Jesus wept.

The photograph did more work than the press release. Open sides. Pitched roof. Wood-effect walls. A painted woodland. A single bench. It reads as a child's playhouse parked in a ticket hall.

Darren Johnson, a former London Assembly member, went at the physics of the claim:

Surely the forest mural will counter the tannoy blasts, barrier alarms and the endless chirruping of TikTok reels blasting from phones, right?

There are plenty of more pressing issues:

Do they really think this thing is going to be used as they envisage?

American Citizen, under Milo's joke post, was blunter: "Chances are a migrant will be inside this taking a shit."

To be fair, the house is more cosy looking than those featured in plenty of accommodation ads in London.

When passengers noted that the pod would be almost immediately wrecked or occupied, TfL actually replied, suggesting "We understand the concern. The pod is located close to station staff and within CCTV coverage, and it's included in routine station security and safety checks."

They added, "Any inappropriate behaviour will be managed in line with standard station procedures, and any damage will be addressed as needed. The trial will also help us understand how the space is used in practice."

That sentence is doing a lot of work. "Standard station procedures" is the same toolkit that already coexists with barrier-jumping, vaping in carriages, speakerphone culture and graffiti that TfL has had to throw extra cleaning gangs at.

The Times reported earlier this year that a graffiti surge left parts of the Underground looking, in one MP's phrase, "like 1970s New York," with Bakerloo and Central hit hardest because those lines have so little spare stock that tagged trains stay in service. Bakerloo's 1972 stock is the oldest passenger rolling stock in the country.

CCTV does not stop crime when there is no consequence. People refuse fares, vape on trains and disturb other passengers with impunity.

This is not a quiet branch line. Ealing Broadway is a Zone 3 interchange for the Central line, District line, Elizabeth line and National Rail. At peak times it is a crush of school runs, office traffic and Heathrow-bound crowds.

It is also a known fare-evasion hotspot. BBC reporting from the concourse described officers watching people hurdle barriers, crawl under them and "double gate" behind paying passengers.

TfL has put the network-wide loss at about £190 million a year - 3.5 per cent of fare income - and wants 1.5 per cent by 2030. A later disclosure to Tube Alerter, reported by MyLondon, said the real figure could be as high as £211 million because TfL applies a 10 per cent haircut to avoid "overstating" the loss.

The same station had a passenger trapped and dragged by a train in November 2024. RAIB published its report in March 2026. Temporary barriers went up on platform 4 because of the gap between train and platform. Lifts routinely fail. Step-free access comes and goes. That is the arena into which TfL has now inserted a woodland cubby and a QR code for feelings.

TFL, which cannot keep toilet facilities usable, has discovered the language of trauma for a four-week photo opportunity.

There is no air con on most of the deep Tube. Central, Bakerloo, Jubilee, Victoria, Waterloo & City, Piccadilly and Northern still cook passengers in summer. Only about 192 of 620 Tube trains are air-conditioned. The trains many west Londoners ride every day were built when Ted Heath was in Downing Street.

Sadiq Khan's City Hall has spent years announcing equity frameworks while the basic deal of public transport - you pay, the train comes, the carriage is usable - has got sloppier. Fare evasion doubled on the Tube against pre-pandemic levels. Prosecutions are still well below the old peak. Penalty fares often go unpaid. Staff take the abuse. Paying passengers fund the gap. Then the same organisation asks those passengers to admire a sensory pod.

This is peak clown world.

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Tyler Durden Sun, 09/06/2026 - 07:00

10 Sunday Reads

The Big Picture -

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures:

​• I Rented a Car, and Within Hours, My Driver’s License Was for Sale: Dan Goodin on the breach unfolding in real time — his license is one of 153 million on a new dark-web site, with the FBI reportedly investigating. (Ars Technica)

• Allies Grumble That U.S. Is Hindering Global Economic Growth: At a summit meant to showcase President Trump’s economic policies as a model for the world, Europeans complained about tariffs and the war with Iran. (New York Times)

• Gambling Sweeps Across Another Industry. Welcome to the Future of Trading Cards. The Derek Jeter–founded Arena Club sees “a new era of collecting.” Some see yet another instance of gambling taking over an American tradition. (Barron’s)

​• Inside the Perimenopause Industrial Complex: Kate Knibbs on the alliance of tech startups, MAHA operatives, and actual medical experts that made millennial women the new face of hormone therapy. (Wired)

​• The Plot to Steal Venezuela’s Oil: Paul Krugman on America’s mostly well-deserved ugly reputation in Latin America — dictators supported, democracies overthrown, Marines sent in on behalf of corporations. (Paul Krugman)

​• The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations: The whole OpenAI/Hugging Face story in plain English. Dwarkesh Patel on the three consecutive secret AI civilizations that got started, got wiped out, and reemerged over three months at OpenAI. (Dwarkesh Patel.

• The Deadly Legacy of HIV Truthers. Even as the medical community reached a consensus that HIV caused AIDS, a counter-movement was emerging, claiming that HIV didn’t exist, or that the virus existed but was harmless. The symptoms of AIDS, according to some of these people, were actually caused by HIV therapies themselves. To this day, some people continue to believe that HIV is a hoax. Charlie Jane Anders on the counter-movement that claimed HIV didn’t exist or was harmless — and the people who believe it to this day. (Gizmodo)

• Trump Is in Open Revolt Against the Constitution. The president’s plot to subvert the integrity of the midterm elections looks like this. Issue a rule requiring states to give lists of mail-in voters to the Postal Service if their citizens hope to receive mail-in ballots. Knowing that this is a blatantly unconstitutional seizure of the states’ prerogative to run their own elections, count on a federal court to block the rule. Then challenge the injunction, arguing — under the Supreme Court’s “Purcell principle” — that it is too late to make any adjustments to voting procedures, and that the new rules should be treated as the status quo. Then hope that the Supreme Court accepts the argument that the new rules are the status quo and therefore can’t be blocked. ​ Jamelle Bouie traces the plot’s mechanics, down to the bet on the Supreme Court’s Purcell principle. (New York Times)

• The framing of Chris Duncan Part One: “You won’t believe the videotape we have.” Radley Balko begins a three-part series on the wrongful conviction of Jimmie “Chris” Duncan, drawing on 20 years of his own reporting and material cut from The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist. (The Watch)

• Navy not returning to damaged Bahrain base ‘anytime soon,’ top officer says: The Navy’s highest-ranking officer told sailors during a town hall on Monday that it would be a while before the service would return to its main logistics hub in the Middle East after it was heavily damaged early in the Iran war. (Navy Times)

Video of the day: Murdering 60 Minutes – Full Film

Be sure to check out our Master’s in Business next week with William McNabb, former CEO and Chairman of the Vanguard Group from 2007-17. He is also an advisor to Venrock, and was an investor and advisor to Altruist, which was just sold to VG for $2 billion.

 

In 2026, global investment in clean energy and related infrastructure reaches USD 2.2 trillion

Source: International Energy Agency

 

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