U.S. Companies are planning on taking a larger role in extracting Afghanistan's enormous reserves of valuable rare earth minerals, Reuters reported after U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani on Thursday. According to a White House statement, the presidents agreed that the development of Afghan minerals by U.S.
US to Extract Minerals From Afghanistan to ‘Defray Cost of US Assistance’
The U.S. military has had its eyes on Afghan mineral deposits for some time. A 2007 Pentagon memo that the New York Times quoted in a 2010 article says that Afghanistan could be the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”