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Afghanistan has $1 trillion worth of essential mineral deposits

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Although Afghanistan is desperately poor, the Taliban now rule over a nation with nearly $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits that the world needs to manufacture clean technologies, CNN Business reports. Experts have said that Afghanistan has the natural resources to become one of the region’s richest countries within 10 years.

Decades of war, lack of infrastructure, and droughts have devastated the country and the outlook is continued violence and instability under Taliban rule. Nevertheless, CNN Business reports, Afghanistan is rich in minerals such as iron, copper, and gold. In particular, it has rare earth minerals like lithium and cobalt that are essential for clean technologies.

The US government has reportedly estimated that Afghanistan’s Lithium deposits may be on a par with those in Bolivia, which has the largest known reserves. Proper mining and management of these natural resources could raise Afghanistan out of economic devastation, CNN Business reports.

“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, founder of Ecological Futures Group, told CNN Business.

CNN Business notes that, while the fortunes of Afghans are not expected to improve any time soon under the Taliban, “still, China, Pakistan, and India may try to engage despite the chaos.”