© 2025 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

With hillsides rich in lithium, is Afghanistan the new Saudi Arabia?

Chinese prospectors have arrived in rural northwest Afghanistan in a kind of new gold rush as they try to corner the market on lithium for electric car batteries. The Taliban stands to profit in partnership with China while the U.S. — after its 20-year military operation in Afghanistan — is not part of the picture.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks with Washington Post correspondent Gerry Shih.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
You Count on Us, We Count on You: Donate to WUSF to support free, accessible journalism for yourself and the community.