Beijing: With the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan, China’s eyes are now on rare metals worth trillions of dollars present there on earth. CNBC quoted Ahmed Shah Katwazai, a former diplomat at the Afghan Embassy, as saying that the value of rare metals present in Afghanistan was valued between $1,000 billion and $3,000 billion in 2020. These precious metals are mainly used in advanced technologies such as hi-tech missile systems.
China said on Wednesday that it would take a decision on giving diplomatic recognition to the Taliban in Afghanistan once a government is formed in the country. According to the report, these hard-to-find metals are used for recharging batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles, modern ceramic utensils, computers, DVD players, turbines, catalysts in vehicles and oil refineries, TVs, lasers, fiber optics. , superconductors and glass polishing.
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), China supplies more than 85 percent of the world’s rare earth metals. China also supplies rare metals and minerals such as antimony (antimony) and barite, which account for about two-thirds of the global supply.
China threatened to control metal exports in 2019 during trade war with the US. China’s move could lead to serious raw material shortages for the US high-tech industry. Shamila Khan, director of the Emerging Markets Debt Alliance, Bernstein, believes the Taliban have come up with resources that could prove to be very dangerous for the world. The minerals present in Afghanistan can be misused.
