Taliban is buying Blowfish drones from China even as 90% Afghans in dire poverty

Even though people in Afghanistan are facing severe poverty and food crisis, the Taliban, Islamic hardliners who are ruling the country now, have decided to buy Blowfish drones from China.

Rather than subsidizing education or developing the country, it now appears that the Taliban will use its limited cash to purchase or otherwise acquire Blowfish drones from China, 19FortyFive reported.

What is a blowfish drone? The blowfish drone is a mini-helicopter that can fire machine guns, launch mortars, and throw grenades. Artificial intelligence imbues them with the ability to determine who lives and who dies on the battlefield with minimal human input.

US worried: The Pentagon has already expressed fears that Blowfish exported to the Middle East could end up in the wrong hands. The United States should not be fooled by China's statement that drones are required to help the Taliban's counter-terrorism, considering the Taliban's ties with Al Qaeda, said the 19FortyFive report.

China-Afghanistan ties: Earlier this month, the Taliban signed a deal with a Chinese company to extract oil from northern Afghanistan's Amu Darya basin. The agreement with China's Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co is the first major international energy extraction deal the Taliban has signed since taking control of Afghanistan in 2021.

• The contract was signed in Kabul in the presence of the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu, according to a statement from the Taliban government.

Poverty in Afghanistan: Ninety-seven percent of Afghanistan's population is at risk of poverty, with over half of Afghans reliant on humanitarian aid. Already, 91% of the average Afghan household's money is spent on food, forcing many families to resort to rationing and other coping strategies reported rescue.org.