• Director(s):

    DE LAVARENE (Eric), TRELLUYER (THIERRY)

  • Producer(s):

    BRAINWORKS, ARTE FRANCE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2025

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

Since the Taliban took back power in August 2021, Afghanistan is now gaining international attention for its vast reserves of rare earth minerals, which are crucial for the energy transition and are estimated to be over €1 trillion worth. Despite Europeans and Americans expressing reluctance, other actors like China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, and India are already moving into the Afghan capital.

With some of the world's largest reserves of copper, lithium, cobalt, iron, chromite, uranium, mercury and rare earth elements, Afghanistan is a kind of “Saudi Arabia of minerals”. These resources are valued to be over €1 trillion worth, not to mention precious stones such as emeralds, rubies, sapphires, turquoise, lapis lazuli, and even gold. Not only the Chinese, but also Russians, Turks, Qataris, Pakistanis, and Indians are already moving into the Afghan capital to get their hands on these deposits. Europeans and Americans are reluctant to negotiate with a regime they do not recognize, and which flouts basic human rights. And yet, if we are to make the transition to renewable energies, we will need to extract as many resources over the next 30 years as has been extracted since the beginning of human history. A race for supplies has therefore now begun, with Afghanistan which could emerge as a new Eldorado.