“Afghanistan can be the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” noted The Washington Post on July 23. In a brilliantly investigated ground report, the article cited a US Department of Defence finding that the Hindu Kush Mountain range in the Nurestan province in Afghanistan could potentially possess a trillion dollars’ worth of critical and rare earth minerals, but in an ironical twist to the tale, America’s foes, China and the Taliban, are now well positioned to reap these riches. However, this development could be significant for India’s economic future and its youth.
The transition in global mobility from oil to electric is now a given. The current global order was established after World War II on the back of oil-based combustion-engine technology. It is now being recast with electric mobility technology driven by batteries using minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare…
