Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Supplies of minerals such as iron, copper and gold are scattered across the country.
Security challenges, a lack of infrastructure and severe droughts have prevented the extraction of most valuable minerals in the past.
Many countries with weak governments suffer from what’s known as the “resource curse,” in which efforts to exploit natural resources fail to provide benefits to local people and the domestic economy.
The International Energy Agency said in May that global supplies of lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements needed to increase sharply or the world would fail in its attempt to tackle the climate crisis.
Electricity networks also require huge amounts of copper and aluminum, while rare earth elements are used in the magnets needed to make wind turbines work.
While there has been some extraction of gold, copper and iron, exploiting lithium and rare earth minerals requires much greater investment and technical know-how, as well as time.
Right now, minerals generate just $1 billion in Afghanistan per year, according to Khan.
Khan notes that foreign investment was hard to come by before the Taliban ousted Afghanistan’s civilian Western-backed government.
“China, the next-door neighbour, is embarking on a very significant green energy development program,” Schoonover said.
Beijing could be skeptical of partnering on ventures with the Taliban given ongoing instability, however, and may focus on other regions.