$1 Trillion In Minerals Found In Afghanistan 688
a user writes "American geologists working with the Pentagon have discovered deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium of incredible bounty, amounting to nearly $1 trillion. In fact, the lithium deposits are so vast, an internal Pentagon memo has stated that Afghanistan could become the 'Saudi Arabia of lithium.' The wealth of the deposits completely flattens the current GDP of Afghanistan, estimated at about $12 billion. Mining would completely transform the economy of Afghanistan, which presently is propped up by the opium trade and foreign aid. However, it could take decades for extraction to reach its full potential due to the war, the lack of heavy industry in the country, and a corrupt national government."
CNN said this could make it the saudi arabia (Score:2, Interesting)
...of minerals
Sounds likewe won't be able to become independent of these nations after all, even of we abandon oil.
Handy (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, isn't it lucky that the USA has invaded already - it saves them having to invent a thin pretext to invade later! Of course, the conspiracy theorists will probably be saying that this was all already known and was the pretext for the invasion but didn't make it public knowledge until now so that people wouldn't make a mental link between the resources and the invasion....
Why? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dammit! (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't have to occupy a country to benefit from its resources. We did a very good job mangling Latin American economies without maintaining an occupying force. We'll benefit by doing nothing; I'd imagine deposits that large would drive down the global price for those minerals.
Bigger problems are what the summary mentions: Lack of heavy industry and corruption. Corruption increases with the square of the distance from Kabul. Bureaucratic processes are intentionally long and complicated; bribes at each step are expected and practically required. The central government has little reach outside of the capitol and inability to effectively tax. This means incredibly low salaries for government employees, encouraging graft.
"Lack of heavy industry" is another reason even a hardcore realpolitik would avoid "taking another [military] look at the Afghanistan situation." This means they'll need our contractors to realize any return on their $trillion in mineral rights.
Re:That's Great But... (Score:5, Interesting)
Confirmed. I heard about it several months ago (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:That's Great But... (Score:4, Interesting)
Even worse, in the end the only ones who will benefit are the corporations.
And those corporations employ people, people who need haircuts, food, transportation, cell phones, and other stuff, people who pay taxes, people who need to get educated, people who get salaries.
And while it might be nice for Afghanis if Afghanistan could become the Switzerland of Asia--you know, build nice hotels, make world-class chocolate, and handle large, shady monetary transactions anonymously--that's not in the cards. This may not be quite as good, but it still beats the Taliban and ... well, whatever economic basis Afghanistan had before.
Exactly NONE of it is leaving Asia (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Handy (Score:2, Interesting)
argued as benefiting the greater good... in half a century's time.
Or the very opposite. As a German some of those History-Channel post WWII reports make me puke. All those niceties the USA did to us after there war where not that nice at all. Instead the USA fixed our elections, brain washed us with pro-capitalistic propaganda (designed by CIA specialists), made us have an army again (which we did not want at the time) and ignored a chance for re-unification because the USA did not want us to be neutral.
Martin
Re:That's Great But... (Score:2, Interesting)
The big bad internationals are paying 50% "special tax" on oil profits plus 28% corporation tax. That is money paid by the multinationals to the Norwegian people for the rights to make money on the Norwegian resources.
"Norway: a haven for oil production" [norway.org.uk]
BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, and other major international oil companies are involved in oil and gas production in Norway.
This is model Afghanistan should look close at. A way to make sure that the major internationals earn enough to make it interesting, but also gives back to the people.
Australia is working on a similar model for their mining industry. The Norwegian experience shows that the major internationals are willing to invest and pay their taxes as long as the market is open and predictable.
Gold.. (Score:3, Interesting)
So are we going to get to see the price of gold plummet again like it did in the 90's? Could be very interesting times for everyone who bought into the Goldline / Beck fiasco.
Re:Handy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:1, Interesting)
Read the fucking article.
From TFA:
In 2009, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq was transferred to Afghanistan, and came upon the geological data. Until then, no one besides the geologists had bothered to look at the information -- and no one had sought to translate the technical data to measure the potential economic value of the mineral deposits.
Soon, the Pentagon business development task force brought in teams of American mining experts to validate the survey's findings, and then briefed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Mr. Karzai.
Originally the Russians had thought that there was a significant number of resources there, but the Afghans hid the geological data from them during the war. Afterward it wasn't until the Americans were there that the Afghans disclosed the information to anyone. Then the USGS handled the situation, got more information, and promptly let it be forgotten about until a "Pentagon business development task force brought ..." it to the US's attention once more.
I would speculate that we told them about it as a way to stimulate their economy, improve waning relations, and perhaps provide some useful business to them (even at the expense of the country selling out to Western economic ambition).
Re:Occupation not their worst problem now (Score:1, Interesting)
My bigger fear is that now they're going to be like one of those tragic African nations that has tremendous mineral or oil riches. These seem to produce dictatorships where 0.5% of the population is tremendously rich and powerful, and the other 99.5% are left penniless.
Very often those dictators are propped up by western nations, corporations or individuals. Dictators make extraction of wealth easier for a while and when they become difficult the are replaced. The war in Afganistan is the perfect pre stage for wealth extraction. Someone mentioned Somalia, I'm sure there are a lot of western interests that would love a single ruthless dictator to simplify exploitation.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:That's Great But... (Score:1, Interesting)
Yes, but which taxpayers will benefit: Afghani or USA ones ?
The wealth should be for the Afghanis, not the western powers who will now try to put in ''development teams'' -- who, in reality, will try to get as much of the profits into western coffers.
Hint: The most likely country to actually exploit the Afghans is.... (drumroll please) ... China. But thanks for playing "Let's hate The West (America)". After all, nothing done by "The West" can be of any good, ever.
Maybe if they'd quit killing each other and poisoning all the school girls, and actually try to improve their country then intervention by foreign powers wouldn't be necessary. But when the shit in your yard starts spilling over into mine, that makes it my problem too.
Re:That's Great But... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think this would have to be a huge boon for Pakistan as well. With Afghanistan being land-locked there are only 2 directions to the sea to ship it out, Iran and Pakistan. Pakistan would be wise to collect fees for providing the infrastructure to get ore to port.
Re:Handy (Score:5, Interesting)
As a german, that comment makes me puke. Of course not everything done to us by the US after the war was out of pure altruism, but hey, we just happend to lay waste to a huge part of the developed world. Allowing germany to continue to exist should be considered *nice* in that situation. And helping us to develop into a fairly wealthy country was fucking awesome. (Oh, and rose-colored "ostalgie" glasses aside, whatever politically fuelled the US did to us was topped tenfold by what the russians did to east germany.)
I do not approve of everything the US does today, but saying their behavior after WWII was "the opposite of benefiting the greater good" is so far from beeing reasonable I might have to consider I just have been trolled.
That's ironic (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:That's Great But... (Score:5, Interesting)
To be clear, our "war" in Afghanistan isn't just about blowing up weddings (although that is a terrible part of it); we are also trying to "nation build", which means establishing things like schools, other government services, government itself, and the beginnings of an economy not based on heroin and terrorism.
I'm not involved in this project but I imagine that part of that last effort was that we sent out some scientists to poke around and see if there were some natural resources that might help. Apparently they hit the jackpot, but digging the jackpot out of the ground might cause more problems than it solves (it's difficult to predict).
Re:thanks (Score:3, Interesting)
Oh, you mean like how all of the oil wells that were drilled by U.S. companies and then "nationalized" keeps Iran from becoming corrupt and evil, and run by religious fanatics? Thank for explaining that. Your understanding of the issue is clearly different than mine.
Corrupt and evil? Run by religious fanatics? Sounds like the USA, where almost every senator cites God as his reason for doing almost anything. And let's not forget "Thank god for general motors" etc in the meeting where they decided to sue California if we went ahead with our emissions restrictions. The Japanese (who also are known to be religious) could manage these targets, but US automakers couldn't. But God apparently thinks it's OK.
Believing that Iran's leaders are insane is the result of a steady diet of propaganda. Now, Kim-Jong Il, we're sure about. But Iran is continually making progress and is totally absent any kind of total wackiness. Instead, they're the only nation in the world besides Israel able to rival our military technology.
Someone has to say it... (Score:2, Interesting)
Need more vespene gas
Re:That's Great But... (Score:5, Interesting)
This article from the Atlantic would beg to differ. Basically, the benefits to the economy are extremely short-lived for the populace, with all long-term possible gain from the natural resources going to the mining companies.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/05/the-next-empire/8018/ [theatlantic.com]
Re:That's Great But... (Score:1, Interesting)
'The Southerners should get rich, but the wealth extraction requires expertise they don't have (killing each other has been more fun down the centuries).
I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and currently live in Atlanta. Your absurd caricature is as ridiculous as it is insulting. BTW, fuck you very much you pompous arrogant ass.