Pakistan, Oct. 24 -- Afghanistan possesses some of the most concentrated reserves of critical minerals in the world including lithium, rare earths, copper, cobalt, oil, and precious stones, essential for the global economy and modern technologies. Yet, rather than driving national development, the administration of these assets mirrors the extraction of gravel. Unresolved internal disputes over mining control, revenue distribution, and local rights are actively fueling violence in northern Afghanistan. How an internal power struggle between the Kandahar leadership and the Haqqani Network, combined with widespread corruption, opaque legal frameworks, and environmental devastation, has transformed northern mining regions into a crucible of ...