Is the US trading Indian security for Pak proximity and Afghan minerals?

To unlock Afghanistan's mineral vaults and regain access to strategic sites like the Bagram Airbase, the US needs Pakistan's logistical cooperation and tacit support. But this cooperation comes at a cost: the price may be Indian silence.

- SAVIO RODRIGUES

There's a new chessboard unfolding in South Asia, and the moves are being orchestrated not in Delhi or Islamabad, but in Washington's backrooms.

The United States, driven by its hunger for rare earth minerals and influence in an increasingly multipolar world, appears to be entering a transactional phase of diplomacy—where silence is the new currency and strategic ambiguity its preferred tool.

A grand deal appears to be quietly fermenting behind closed doors—one that may expose the convenient hypocrisy of US foreign policy and its morally fluid principles when geopolitical stakes are high.

If the signals are anything to go by, Washington seems willing to apply a hands-off policy toward Pakistan's domestic and military affairs, including muting India's allegations about Pakistan's involvement in cross-border terrorism.

In exchange? A chance to clinch a minerals deal that could reshape America's global competitiveness in the tech-dominated future.

Pakistan's proximity to Afghanistan makes it the gatekeeper to a treasure trove buried beneath Afghan soil—an estimated $1 trillion in untapped mineral wealth, including rare earth elements, lithium, copper, and gold.

These are not merely commodities; they are the new oil in a world scrambling to dominate AI, electric vehicles, defense technologies, and battery storage.

But there's a problem: Afghanistan remains a mine-field of insecurity, both literally and figuratively.

The Taliban's resurgence, unchecked terrorist factions, and regional instability make mineral extraction an expensive gamble.

Here's where Pakistan steps in as the supposed "stabilizing partner." And here's where the US might be trading its silence.

To unlock Afghanistan's mineral vaults and regain access to strategic sites like the Bagram Airbase, the US needs Pakistan's logistical cooperation and tacit support.

But this cooperation comes at a cost: the price may be Indian silence.