Balochistan, Aug. 10 -- As the United States and Pakistan move forward with a new mining and minerals deal, experts warn the agreement will inflame tensions in Balochistan, a region already gripped by decades of violence, military occupation, and the denial of basic human rights.

According to The Diplomat, the US strategic interest in Balochistan is rooted not in development or diplomacy but in geopolitical rivalry with China, and at the cost of the Baloch people.

The mineral-rich region holds some of the world's largest untapped reserves of copper, gold, lithium, and other critical minerals essential for modern warfare and surveillance technologies. The US military, as The Diplomat notes, is the world's largest consumer of these minera...