The Abundance of Afghanistan

Afghanistan is not only a country with intensely beautiful scenery, with warm and welcoming inhabitants, but is also one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Read that again.

I mean that literally. Afghanistan is vastly abundant when it comes to natural resources.

The list of the natural resourses Afghanistan contains is impressively long.

The country is long known for it’s beautiful precious and semi precious stones, the most famous of them the deep blue lapis lazuli, found in Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan. Precious stones like emeralds, ruby and sapphires are mined in Afghanistan. You find many in mesmerizingly stunning Panjshir Valley. Among the semi-precious ones apart from lapis lazuli, you find tourmaline, aquamarine, kunzite, topaz, garnets, fluorite and varieties of quartz.

The country also holds a wide variety of marble.

Afghanistan is also rich in metals.

Afghanistan has a vast quantity of gold. Not only gold, but also various metals like platinum, silver, copper, iron, aluminium and uranium.

Afghanistan is also rich in oil and gas.

Lithium is another humongous source of riches.

Afghanistan is believed to have so much lithium, that – according to a 2010 memo by the U.S. Department of Defense – the country could be known as the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”
Lithium, as we know, is an increasingly important metal widely used in battery technology. You find lithium in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles. Lithium is also used in some non-rechargeable batteries for things like heart pacemakers, toys and clocks. You find both lithium and marble in Herat Province.

Afghanistan is also rich in rare earth elements (REEs).

They are the metals with unpronounceable names used in advanced technology, including electric vehicles, smart phones, wind turbines and defense technologies, like missile guidance systems, fighter jets and space technology.