Afghanistan has emerged as a possible major source of lithium. Batteries that will make future electric cars practical will be made from lithium, a rare-earth metal mined from salt flats and clay. Lithium batteries for cars, phones and computers could give the metal a lot more strategic value than oil within the 21st century. Lithium, like many of the world’s oil, is found in regressive, inaccessible nations bearing animosity toward America. Countries like Argentine, Boliva and most just lately, Afghanistan, are called “Saudi Arabias of lithium” due to their confirmed mother lodes of the metal.
A corrupt Afghanistan eyes lithium
The discovery of rich Afghan lithium deposits was announced by American officials Monday. The New York Times reports that lithium and major deposits of iron, copper, cobalt and gold worth about $1 trillion exist in Afghanistan. The previously undiscovered minerals, existing in quantities far beyond known reserves elsewhere, might be both good news and bad news for the U.S. Afghanistan war. The Afghan individuals might be liberated from generations of war by the vast mineral wealth. Or the known presence of lithium and other precious metals could increase Taliban resolve to control the country and intensify the Afghanistan war. Virtually any outcome will fuel the graft and theft typical of Afghan corruption.
Afghanistan lithium, along with other precious metals, could make the country a new frontier for international mining. But Afghanistan’s economy, currently depending on opium cultivation, has none of the heavy industry required to capitalize on its mineral wealth. China may be within the lead to exploit Afghanistan lithium, despite the vast quantities of money and human lives has expended for Afghanistan. Blogger Aziz Poonawalla postulates than U.S. strategic control of Afghanistan’s minerals could be contested aggressively by China. A corrupt Hamid Karzai, other analysts believe, will make an effort to hustle the U.S. out of Afghanistan and offer his soul to China.
Bolivian lithium – Afghanistan’s challenge
Afghanistan lithium is huge because a bleak country full of sheep, dust and landmines could supply the critical element that makes hundreds of millions of smartphones and laptops possible. Automakers are counting on a future of electric cars made possible by advanced lithium-ion batteries. The New Yorker reports that half the known lithium resources within the world might be waiting under a huge expanse of salt flats in Bolivia. Nevertheless, it’s doubtful that Boliva will ever get rich from its trove of lithium, experts believe. Boliva’s socialist government is hostile to the U.S., and its infrastructure is little more developed than Afghanistan’s. For Boliva to enjoy the promise of lithium as a twenty-first century fuel, it must first develop the basics of a twentieth-century economy.
Or become the prize for opponents within the next 21st century war.
Read a lot more on this topic here
www.nytimes.com
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www.newyorker.com
