Guess what America found in Afghanistan? your next laptop and car. too bad our government isn't as bad as the Anti-War Left says we are... if we really had occupying tendencies then we would not of let the rest of the world outbid us for oil fields in Iraq that we let the Iraqis put on the market autonomously. now apparently American blood will also spill in the Afghan... without any financial gain... and now apparently we just found one.
The previous leftist claim was that the Afghan territory was of use for the pipeline between Iran, Turkey and Russia. That never held water because there were other routes.
Now apparently we have something to lose. I have no doubt that those against the war will attempt to spin this.
The previous leftist claim was that the Afghan territory was of use for the pipeline between Iran, Turkey and Russia. That never held water because there were other routes.
Now apparently we have something to lose. I have no doubt that those against the war will attempt to spin this.
This is only good news for the U.S. if America wants to occupy the Afghan long term. The alternative Lithium mining for us is Bolivia which is also an unstable Nation. It's good news for those that would like to fight the opium trade, but the oil in Iraq for example was given in bid and lost to America by non American companies because the U.S. does not force business over the countries they occupy and for the most part allows the locals to get the best price for their resourcesThe United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.
“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.
American and Afghan officials agreed to discuss the mineral discoveries at a difficult moment in the war in Afghanistan. The American-led offensive in Marja in southern Afghanistan has achieved only limited gains. Meanwhile, charges of corruption and favoritism continue to plague the Karzai government, and Mr. Karzai seems increasingly embittered toward the White House.
So the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan. Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact.
Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country.
The corruption that is already rampant in the Karzai government could also be amplified by the new wealth, particularly if a handful of well-connected oligarchs, some with personal ties to the president, gain control of the resources. Just last year, Afghanistan’s minister of mines was accused by American officials of accepting a $30 million bribe to award China the rights to develop its copper mine. The minister has since been replaced.
Endless fights could erupt between the central government in Kabul and provincial and tribal leaders in mineral-rich districts. Afghanistan has a national mining law, written with the help of advisers from the World Bank, but it has never faced a serious challenge.
“No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces,” observed Paul A. Brinkley, undersecretary of defense and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits.
At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.
Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. “The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?” Mr. Brinkley said. “No one knows how this will work.”
via nytimes.com
If the United States people really were evil and as bad as the Anti-war people claim then this would be very good news. Sadly... as we have learned watching the similarity between Bush and Obama in theory, the Anti War people are wrong. It would be nice to see America running our Chevy Volts on Afghan Lithium... but the real good news would be a local U.S. source of Lithium
