The sudden U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan may have given China the chance to take advantage of the region’s vast mineral reserves with an estimated value as high as $3 trillion, according to the Institute for Energy Research.
This is a resource greatly in demand for clean technologies like electric cars, and China already controls much of the world's mineral supply,
Long known as “the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” the Afghan region accounts for 30% of the current global market for lithium, a staple for technology, the International Energy Agency said. The demand for this metal is projected to increase 40 times over the next two decades.
Yet the Taliban's takeover of the Afghan government has put the future of this resource, which includes other metals and minerals as well, in uncertain hands.
“The chaos may offer China, which dominates the world market for rare earths widely used in technology, to step in to develop the mineral reserves, which also include lithium, used in the manufacture of batteries,” MarketWatch said.
China is already reported to be planning lucrative investments for the war-torn region, which may tie in to the trillions it is investing in global road and sea routes while expanding its international ties, Fox News reported.
"Afghanistan is certainly one of the regions richest in traditional precious metals, but also the metals [needed] for the emerging economy of the 21st century," Rod Schoonover, a scientist and security expert who founded the Ecological Futures Group, told CNN.
Yet poverty runs rampant in this region where as of last year, roughly nine out of every 10 Afghans were living below the government-determined poverty level of $2 per day, the US Congressional Research Service reported to CNN. There's no end in sight to obstacles to improving the standard of living either.
"The private sector development and diversification is constrained by insecurity, political instability, weak institutions, inadequate infrastructure, widespread corruption and a difficult business environment," the US Congressional Research Service said.
Demand for metals like lithium and cobalt, as well as rare earth elements such as neodymium, is soaring as countries try to switch to electric cars and other clean technologies to slash carbon emissions.
The US government has reportedly estimated that lithium deposits in Afghanistan could rival those in Bolivia, home to the world's largest known reserves.