Well, it turns out they've known about these minerals for years.
Afghans: US finds mineral riches in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Monday, June 14, 2010 | 7:40 a.m.
U.S. geologists have discovered vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan, possibly amounting to $1 trillion, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Monday.
Waheed Omar told reporters the findings were made by the U.S. Geological Survey under contract to the Afghan government.
"The result of the survey ... has shown that Afghanistan has mineral resources worth $1 trillion," Omar said. "This is not an overall survey of all minerals in Afghanistan. Whatever has been found in this survey is worth $1 trillion."
Omar refused to provide details, referring reporters to the Ministry of Mines. An official at the ministry refused to discuss the survey, saying details would be released at a news conference later this week.
A 2007 report by the USGS said most of the data on Afghanistan's mineral resources was produced between the early 1950s and 1985 but much was hidden and protected by Afghan scientists "during the intermittent conflict over the next two decades."
The New York Times reported the $1 trillion figure in Monday's edition and quoted senior American officials as saying untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan are far beyond any previously known reserves and were enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.
Americans discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium, according to the report. The Times quoted a Pentagon memo as saying Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and cell phones.
"There is stunning potential here," the newspaper quoted Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command as saying. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
Geologists have known for decades that Afghanistan contained substantial mineral resources, including copper, gold and cobalt. But the resources have never been fully exploited because of decades of armed conflict and poor infrastructure. The Times said huge lithium deposits were found in Ghazni province _ much of which is effectively under Taliban control.
During a visit last month to Washington, Karzai said his nation's untapped mineral deposits could be even higher _ perhaps as much as $3 trillion.
The mineral resources are a "massive opportunity," Karzai said at a May 13 event with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
The report in the Times said the USGS began aerial surveys of Afghanistan's mineral resources in 2006, using data that had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Promising results led to a more sophisticated study the next year.
Then last year, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq arrived in Afghanistan and closely analyzed the geologists' findings. U.S. mining experts were brought in to validate the survey's conclusions, and top U.S. and Afghan officials were briefed.
"I think it's very, very big news for the people of Afghanistan and that we hope will bring the Afghan people together for a cause that will benefit everyone," Karzai's spokesman, Omar, said. "This is an economic interest that will benefit all Afghans and will benefit Afghanistan in the long run."
So far, the biggest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, but finds include large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, as well as rare earth elements and large gold deposits in Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan, the report said. Many of those areas are too dangerous because of Taliban activity.
Charles Kernot, a mining analyst with Evolution Securities Ltd. in London, said it typically takes three to five years to get a lithium mining operation up and running. Factors include how close the deposit is to power sources and other infrastructure and the size of the deposit.
And large lithium deposits may not mean an automatic windfall _ given competition and the uncertainty of the market.
Like i said i hope capitalism is [edit: could be] as beneficial to the Afghan people as it has been to the Australian people, but it sure as hell isn't going to benefit the dead ..
A stable democracy anywhere is an ideal .. yes .. here is one insider opinion re the situation back in 2008 .. http://kabulcenter.org/?p=116 .. The interviewee said the Afghan people wanted the foreign troops to stay.
How are things going in 2010?
The Christian Science Monitor By Anand Gopal .. 06/09/2010
Interview with Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar: Can peace talks succeed?
In a rare interview conducted by e-mail, Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar – head of the weakest of three main insurgent groups and the first to engage in peace talks with Kabul – lays out his plan to stop the fighting.
Kabul - Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a veteran Afghan warlord, heads the only one of three main insurgent groups that is holding direct negotiations with the government. His group, Hizb-e-Islami, controls large swaths of the north and east, and in March it delivered to Kabul a 15-point peace proposal. But any deal with Hizb-e-Islami remains far off, due to disagreements over when foreign troops should leave and when to hold new elections. And it is not clear that stronger groups such as the Taliban would follow suit.
Mr. Hekmatyar, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, discussed the peace negotiations with the Monitor in a rare e-mail interview, with high-ranking associates of his verifying his identity. Here are excerpts from the interview.
In March, a delegation of yours visited Kabul to explore peace negotiations. Why did your group decide to start talks now?
We started our efforts for peace just after [US President] Obama and other Western leaders mentioned for the first time the possibility of withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan. They said that the chaos of Afghanistan does not have a military resolution, that they could not defeat the opposition by fighting.
We [presented our proposal now] because after the withdrawal of these troops, we don’t want a repeat of what happened after the withdrawal of the Russians [i.e., civil war]. We wanted all Afghan sides to agree to stop fighting forever.
Is the withdrawal of the foreign troops the only way to stop the fighting?
The presence of foreign troops is the fundamental reason for the continued fighting. Foreign troops should leave Afghanistan. Moreover, the interference of neighboring countries and other powerful forces should stop, because their competition is the cause of this chaos.
What role do you see for yourself in a post-US government?
Right now I just want the freedom of my country. I am not thinking about other issues. I don’t want anything for myself, nor have we asked for anything for me or Hizb-e-Islami.
We want that Afghans choose the position of each party and person. And they should not ask the foreigners to insure their desired positions.
If your group stops fighting, what effect will this have on the Taliban?
If Hizb-e-Islami agrees on a proposal for ending the chaos, most of the fighters from the resistance will also agree [to stop]. Most of the nation will support it.
If the United States withdraws, how can you ensure that Al Qaeda will no longer use Afghanistan as a haven?
Right now, Al Qaeda does not have an active or widespread presence in Afghanistan. Iraq and Somalia are more preferred and ideal centers for Al Qaeda.
In our proposal, we said that after the foreign troops leave, there will be no foreign fighters in Afghanistan. Afghans are ready to guarantee this.
Recent reports say Hizb-e-Islami and the Taliban have been fighting in the north.
For the past year, some suspected Taliban groups, following the orders of foreign agents who made the Taliban and Hizb fight each other in the past, decided to fight Hizb. In some places, small fighting took place. But we don’t want to drown in fighting with an Afghan group.
Then there is the question of security .. 9 years into the occupation and war .. excerpt ..
Afghan troops fear life after foreign pullout .. June 7, 2010
Afghanistan (Reuters) - Standing beside a machinegun in a sand-bagged watch tower, an Afghan soldier contemplates a future once Western forces leave the country.
"The Taliban will capture us in five minutes," said Mohammad Azim at a Kandahar base shared by NATO and Afghan army troops, close to villages where militants easily blend in with the population. .. continued .. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6570DA20100608
I'm sure i read that the establishment of a stable democracy was no longer, if it ever was, a goal in Afghanistan.
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