China, Afghanistan, and the Allure of ‘Green Mineral Development’

Bottom Line

• Chinese firms are inching closer to billions of dollars worth of deals in Afghanistan in search of natural resources just two years after the United States exited from the war-ravaged country.
• Critical minerals should be sourced from areas where it is both ecologically efficient (extraction with less environmental footprint with higher grade ores) and economically efficient (with greater benefits for communities and business minus costs).
• The United States might consider this an opportunity to engage with the Taliban as it did in the 1990s when oil and gas development prospects created a window of engagement despite sanctions.

There is a growing consensus that the “green transition” or “clean energy transition” to low-carbon technologies will require a range of minerals (“green minerals”).  As the lightest metal on the periodic table, lithium has certain unique properties which make it very suitable as a metal for batteries needed for the green transition.