The Taliban are sitting on $1 trillion worth of minerals the world desperately needs
CNN
The swift fall of Afghanistan to Taliban fighters two decades after the United States invaded the country has triggered a political and humanitarian crisis. It's also causing security experts to wonder: What's going to happen to the country's vast untapped mineral wealth?
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. But in 2010, US military officials and geologists revealed that the country, which sits at the crossroads of Central and South Asia, was sitting on mineral deposits worth nearly $1 trillion that could dramatically transform its economic prospects. Supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold are scattered across the country. There are also rare earth minerals and, perhaps most importantly, what could be one of the world's biggest untapped deposits of lithium — an essential but scarce component in rechargeable batteries and other technologies vital to tackling the climate crisis.More Related News