Abandoning Afghanistan's Lithium Deposits to China May Haunt America

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday endured the first of a two-day grilling — remotely — on Capitol Hill over the botched Afghanistan exit, but while the questioning focused on stranded Americans and Afghan allies, the United States also left something else behind that could pose long-term problems.

With America gone, China has already begun making overtures to the new Taliban government, and Chris Dolan, a politics and global studies professor at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania, believes that Beijing’s interest is centered on the rich natural resources recently abandoned by the U.S. — particularly rare earth elements used in electronics.