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U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan, $1 trillion-plus
Ghazni Province - Pentagon: World’s largest deposits of lithium
WASHINGTON — The 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 BlackBerrys.
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, deputy undersecretary of defense for business 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.”
With virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place today, it will take decades for Afghanistan to exploit its mineral wealth fully. “This is a country that has no mining culture,” said Jack Medlin, a geologist in the United States Geological Survey’s international affairs program. “They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.”
The mineral deposits are scattered throughout the country, including in the southern and eastern regions along the border with Pakistan that have had some of the most intense combat in the American-led war against the Taliban insurgency.
The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal with mineral development. International accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult with the Afghan Ministry of Mines, and technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies and other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange to start seeking bids on mineral rights by next fall, officials said.
“The Ministry of Mines is not ready to handle this,” Mr. Brinkley said. “We are trying to help them get ready.”
Like much of the recent history of the country, the story of the discovery of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth is one of missed opportunities and the distractions of war.
In 2004, American geologists, sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort, stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.
During the chaos of the 1990s, when Afghanistan was mired in civil war and later ruled by the Taliban, a small group of Afghan geologists protected the charts by taking them home, and returned them to the Geological Survey’s library only after the American invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
“There were maps, but the development did not take place, because you had 30 to 35 years of war,” said Ahmad Hujabre, an Afghan engineer who worked for the Ministry of Mines in the 1970s …
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=36020
Posted by Yanira Farray on Jun 14 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Corruption, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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So it seems that King Bush’s gamble paid off. Well it remains to be seen how Halliburton and its cronies will gain from this. I see a very slippery slope for the Nation, as the lithium is a vital product for green energy, plays out. Yeah they claim it is the next Saudi Arabia and knowing the history of my Nation they will not leave 1 trillion dollars on the table. God help us.
HEY I HEAR THAT ISRAEL HAS SOME REAL COOL MINERALS,
LETS GO AND LIBERATE ISRAEL AND
” BRING FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY ” .
I AM SURE THE PALESTINIANS WOULD TREAT US LIKE LIBERATORS,
ACTUALLY IN THIS CASE WE WOULD BE LIBERATORS ,
IF AMERICA CAN LIBERATE KUWAIT ” FROM UNJUST OCCUPATION ”
THEN SURELY
AMERICA CAN LIBERATE ISRAEL FROM EXTRA SUPER UNJUST OCCUPATION.
I MEAN,REALLY,THE MORE YOU LOOK INTO THIS,IT REALLY
WOULD BE FAIR.
Hi Rick — please keep posting, but stop using all CAPS. It’s the Internet equivalent of a little kid having a hissy fit. Now sometimes fits are okay, but almost nobody will read mile after mile (i.e. post after post) of them. The only general exception is if you are almost blind like most politicians.
Tom First Cav Vet
He is just a bad typist who is mad. He is not as anal as the pro class internet savants who are so troubled by his caps.
Some people always have dirt under their fingernails but they still may have redeeming qualities.
I like them better than bad spellers and jew internet blogger squads who have impeccable punctuation, spelling and typing and who are good at trying to sound like normal human beings, when they are actually dumb sociopaths.
Mike
COULD WE FIRST LIBERATE AMERICA FROM UNJUST OCCUPATION ????????
AIPAC OF LUNATICS , AIPAC OF LUNATICS ,
I HAVE WATCHED SOME REAL INTERESTING VIDEO OF
KHAZAR JEWISH/CABAL NAZIS IN ISRAEL
ENCOURAGING JEWS IN AMERICA TO EMIGRATE TO ISRAEL
BECAUSE “PRETTY SOON ” A LOT OF AMERICANS WILL
BE “BLAMING” JEWS FOR “STUFF” .
THOUGH,ACTUALLY ,I AM PRETTY SURE THEY ARE NOT INVITING
NON-KHAZAR JEWISH/CABAL NAZIS .
PERHAPS AMERICANS WILL BE BLAMING
GOLDMAN SACHS,MONSANTO,MORGAN STANLEY,JP MORGAN,
ROCKEFELLERS,ROTHCHILDS,BP,ETC
ALL OF WHICH ARE RUN MOSTLY BY AIPAC OF LUNATICS.
GUESS WHO RUNS THE PHARMACEUTICAL MAFIA ??
GUESS WHO RUNS THE VACCINE MAFIA ?????
GUESS WHO RUNS THE ” HEALTH CARE ” MAFIA ???????
GUESS WHO IS MOSTLY RUNNING THE “LAW” &”COURT” MAFIA ???????
AIPAC OF LUNATICS AIPAC OF LUNATICS
ACTUAL ORTHODOX JEWS FROM EUROPE HAVE ALWAYS OPPOSED
” A JEWISH FASCIST STATE” , BECAUSE THEY READ THEIR “TORAH”.
IF YOU HAPPEN TO DISCUSS THIS WITH ORTHODOX JEWS
YOU CAN FIND OUT THAT ZIONIST-NAZI JEWS ( FAKE JEWS ?)
HAVE GIVEN ACTUAL ORTHODOX JEWS THE COLD SHOULDER
AND WORSE, A LOT WORSE.
TO BE CLEAR, ORTHODOX JEWS
ARE NOT RUNNING ISRAEL
OR THE U.S.A. AIPAC OF LUNATICS
WHO HATE YOU & LIE TO YOU & STEAL FROM YOU & CHEAT YOU
& CHEAT YOUR ELECTIONS & BOSS AROUND OUR GOVERNMENT & MILITARY.
THE SEMITIC JEWS ( THOSE OF ACTUAL MIDDLE EASTERN DESCENT)
HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED BY THE ZIONIST CULT QUITE
THOROUGHLY .
BECAUSE ALL THE CHRISTIAN AMERICANS WATCH
AND DROOL OVER THEIR AIPAC OF LUNATICS TEE VEE/MOVIES
AND HAVE BEEN FOR 50 YEARS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU HAVE BEEN BRAIN WASHED AND INDOCTRINATED
TO SERVE THE FASCIST NAZI-ZIONIST STATE OF ISRAEL
WHICH WAS FOUNDED AND FIRST SETUP BY
A BUNCH OF ENGLISH BANKERS !!!!!!!!!!
YOU TWITS !!!!!!!!!!!
1913 “PRIVATELY OWNED FEDERAL RESERVE ”
SETUP BY ROCKEFELLERS/ROTHCHILDS AND ASSORTED SCUM.
EVER PLAY THAT GAME “MONOPOLY”.??
A SMALL GROUP THAT CAN TALK YOU INTO LETTING THEM PRINT/CONTROL
THE MONEY CAN PRETTY MUCH BUY UP
THE WHOLE COUNTRY & THE WHOLE GOVERNMENT AFTER A WHILE.
OH !! , WE MUST HAVE A PRIVATE BANK MONOPLOY RUN
BY ENGLISH ROYALTY & JEWISH BANKERS !!!!
IT IS SO,SO,SO … AMERICAN !!!!!!!!
ONLY ENGLISH ROYALTY & JEWISH BANKERS HAVE
THE “SPECIAL MAGIC” TO RUN THE BANK MONOPOLY.
ALL WE CAN DO OR MANAGE IS THE PRODUCTIVE WORK AND FIGHT
ALL THE WARS THEY ORDER US TO.
CAN WE JUST PRINT OUR OWN CURRENCY ??
NO THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ENGLISH ROYALTY/JEWISH BANKER MAGIC, DUH!!
YUM,YUM, CREST FLUORIDE TOOTHPASTE , CANNOT GET ENOUGH,
SO THEY PUT IT IN YOUR WATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HOPE EVERYONE ENJOYS OUR UTTER COMPLETE DEMISE
AND THE UTTER COMPLETE DEMISE OF YOUR CHILDREN.
YOU EARNED,YOU PAYED FOR IT , YOU FOUGHT WARS FOR IT ,
AND YOUR IN DEBT FOR IT ,
YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO, PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME
” I DON’T CARE ”
I KNOW YOU DON’T CARE , THAT IS ALL I EVER HEAR ,
FOR YEARS & YEARS
ANDREW JACKSON IS NOT PROUD OF YOU
JEFFERSON & WASHINGTON WEEP CONSTANTLY.
BANK OF ENGLAND TRIED AT LEAST THREE TIMES
TO MURDER ANDREW JACKSON.
BANKERS DID KILL LINCOLN ,
LIKE HIM OR NOT
J.F.K. OPPOSED ISRAELS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM
AND ALSO TRIED TO TAKE DOWN THE “PRIVATELY OWNED FEDERAL RESERVE”,
THE POODLE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND !!!!!!!!
J.F.K. WAS KILLED BY A ” MAGIC” “SPECTER” BULLET.
“OFFICIALLY” J.F.K. WAS KILLED BY TWO LONE
GUNMEN WHO WERE UNAWARE OF EACH OTHERS EXISTENCE.
BOTH LONE GUNMEN UNAWARE OF EACH OTHERS EXISTENCE
BOTH FIRED UPON KENNEDY AT VIRTUALLY THE EXACT SAME MOMENT.
A VERY OFFICIAL MAGIC BULLET, INDEED,
WELL.UH.DUH, J.F.K. WASN’T PERFECT , UH,DUH,
NO ONE SAID HE WAS
BUT HE WAS AND IS AN AMERICAN HERO
I agree with you completely. Some anal people are getting distressed by your poor typing skills indicated by putting everything in caps.
What do you think about the UN mandating that all the newly discovered lithium be put into israhell’s drinking water?
Obama and Clinton are “so bright” many have said so I wonder why these two geniuses haven’t thought of that?
We do have bad “leaders”. I agree with you!
JUST SO YOU KNOW, EUROPEANS & RUSSIANS & CHINESE
CAN SEE FROM A DISTANCE WHAT DECADES OF SODIUM-FLUORIDE
AND CORPORATELY CONCENTRATED MASS MEDIA/INDOCTRINATION
WILL DO TO A ONCE PROUD/SANE/ MENTALLY COMPETENT NATION.
DRINK YOUR CITY WATER SPIKED WITH SODIUM FLUORIDE.
BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH CREST FLUORIDE ,
TWITS
EUROPEANS ARE NOT PERFECT BUT THEY DO NOT
SPIKE THEIR WATER WITH SODIUM-FLUORIDE.
ONLY THE NAZIS , THIS CENTURY AND LAST LACED
THE DRINKING WATER WITH SODIUM FLUORIDE,
FOR THE INMATES,AND WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO BE INMATES
OR “NEUTRALIZED MOST COMPLETELY”
WORLD WAR 2 WAS MOSTLY A SETUP FOR & BY THE ENGLISH ROYALTY
& THE BANK OF ENGLAND ( ROTHCHILDS , CITY OF LONDON )
MUSOLLINI WAS ON THE ENGLISH ROYALS’ PAYROLL FROM 1920′S
WORLD WAR 1 WAS MOSTLY ABOUT MANEUVERING AMERICA
TO DESTROY ECONOMIC COMPETITORS OF THE ENGLISH CROWN,
THE MASS MURDER ON THE PLAINS OF EUROPE WAS
A VERY ENGLISH ROYALTY THING ,
THEY ENJOY IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOTHING GIVES THEM GREATER SATISFACTION
[...] the original here: U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan, $1 … Share and [...]
Good catch and post, Mike. This is much better than converting opium to corn (still a good idea) as long as the Afghani people contractually get a major royalty on every shovel full of mineralized dirt.
T.
rick dimbath is not going to listen to anyone but himself. What a mess of crap every where he posts on here. Get off what ever is turning you on to post all in caps. There is a saying that all caps are from someone that needs attention, but it only backfires as we all get sick of it. That is my opinion and I stand by it. Now as the post goes, there will be more war to get all the gold and other goodies. You can’t work with crooks and come out ahead, unless you are one of them, like Halliburton and the boys in DC USA
It can be annoying but it could just be because a person hasn’t had a typing course. I’m more interested in content. Perhap people who find this so distressing are just very anal?
Mike
Great that Afghanistan has resources to sell, now lets get in the guys who are brilliant at building infrastructure – the Chinese – and they can use their military to keep the lot save. We can all leave.
This is an obvious propaganda piece.
“mineral resources” exist everywhere. Iron ore? The entire center of the earth (mantle) is iron and nickel. Marble? it’s everywhere and a low cost hard to transport commodity.
Rubies? O my God. What a very limited commodity. Nickel?
The entire world’s market for nickel annually is only 22 billion dollars and we will be spending trillions on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before it’s all over.
There are no secret caches of any mineral in the world that haven’t been discovered or speculatively identified. Oil is everywhere and is not a “fossil fuel”.
Lithium??? Now there is a possibility! We could give the “Tribe” lifetime supplies of lithium to calm them down and quit making so much trouble around the world! (put it in their water supply?)Might they lose their thirst for easy money and control of other people if they were taking enough lithium?????
We might better spend American dollars uncapping the Arkansas diamond mine that international diamond interests capped long ago by making it a park! And so many people said Bill Clinton was so bright? Riches in his own back yard were there all along! Bill was probably instructed while at Oxford University in England: the only known diamond mine in the USA would be better used as a park than a diamond mine.(the European diamond interest will take care of diamonds, thank you!)
Imagine what might have happened if Bill Clinton had developed the diamond industry in his own back yard!!!??
He and Hillary would not have had to sell thier souls to the devil of special interests, including israel! And they still could have become rich!!!!! There should be a law against American presidents going to Oxford! Obama’s brain was born in Kenya but Bill Clinton’s got a brain transplant in Oxford, England!
Obama, Clintons (B&H), Bush are all so bright!
Oil? It’s it’s been seeping naturally in the Gulf of Mexico forever but no mention of the in the “news” about the BP “disaster”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD HELP US! PLEASE!!!
I think the Afghans, like George Washington back in the 1770′s , and HoChiMinh (bad speller)in Viet Nam would just like the American to go home. If they need us, they can invite us over to “help” them any time.
Mike
PS
George Washington could smelt iron ore on his plantation which was ok by the British but they didn’t want him to make any axes or hammers there. That was reserved for British expertise. These backward people in the colonies just don’t understand their place in the world.
We could “help” them so much!
A book published in 1995, “Gemstones of Afghanistan”, mentions a Russian report in 1974 describing rare earth formations rich in lithium, tantalum, cesium, beryllium and tin. Russia apparently knew of this mineral wealth from Czarist times. I knew an Afghan expat in the late 1980′s who had been a mining engineer. Seems everyone knew about this mineral wealth except Washington. What I love is how U.S. troops are being used to guard the access road to the Chinese mine at the Aznak copper reserves south of Kabul (per McClatchy, March 8, 2009). That is U.S. blood and dollars so the Chicoms can exploit Afghan copper. Why do I have difficulty making sense out of that?