So then ... we just go ahead and invade anywhere that rare minerals are found? I think that was one of our funding fathers concepts. Go ahead and go to war anywhere there is a mineral we might want.
God forbid we just buy it from whoever owns it, or make a deal to mine them. /s
Under better circumstances, Afghanistan’s mineral wealth could justify the necessary infrastructue investment and security assistance. For now though we lack reliable local allies and secure access to Afghanistan. This is unlikely to change.
I never said we should be there or stay there. I really don’t think there was any reason to go there in the first place. I doubt we will ever extricate ourselves from the mess there now.
The problem is, I believe, that in a few cases, this leaves no “friendly” or coercible suppliers of the rare minerals, in sufficient supply, especially in the short term. In the case of neodymium, the US has some ore, but the entire mining / processing / manufacturing chain has to be rebuilt for us to supply a portion of our needs, ourselves.
Still, even that may be a secondary consideration. I’ll be asking about that on this thread shortly....