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.
Wah great discovery.
oh no....
I bet the US companies will come flocking there to secure and do business. they will suck the shit out of afghan and there will be no more for the locals to tap on their own.
As usual.
Originally posted by Rooney9:I bet the US companies will come flocking there to secure and do business. they will suck the shit out of afghan and there will be no more for the locals to tap on their own.
i agree with you .... this might be a replica of what happened some 5 decades before in Saudi Arabia for oil...
Afghanistan now has something tangible which the maniacs will fight for...
one has to look at Africa where the mineral wealth is more bane than boon..
in Afghanistan, you have religious maniacs being manipulated by assholes to further their personal agendas... you have corrupt leaders.. you have tribal elders who sell their allegiance to the highest bidder.. you have the maniacs in the Taliban..
i see decades and decades of bloodshed in an insane mad grab for money coming up
Originally posted by Rooney9:I bet the US companies will come flocking there to secure and do business. they will suck the shit out of afghan and there will be no more for the locals to tap on their own.
on the contrary to your view.....Guess who is digging and laughing all the way to the bank....
JALREZ VALLEY, Afghanistan — In this Taliban stronghold in the mountains south of Kabul, the U.S. Army is providing the security that will enable China to exploit one of the world's largest unexploited deposits of copper, earn tens of billions of dollars and feed its voracious appetite for raw materials.
U.S. troops set up bases last month along a dirt track that a Chinese firm is paving as part of a $3 billion project to gain access to the Aynak copper reserves. Some troops made camp outside a compound built for the Chinese road crews, who are about to return from winter break. American forces also have expanded their presence in neighboring Logar province, where the Aynak deposit is.
The U.S. deployment wasn't intended to protect the Chinese investment — the largest in Afghanistan's history — but to strangle Taliban infiltration into the capital of Kabul. But if the mission provides the security that a project to revive Afghanistan's economy needs, the synergy will be welcome.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/03/08/63452/chinas-thirst-for-copper-could.html#ixzz0quAke2Ew
mineral deposit is just an old news it was already reported back in 2007...the chinese is already in various part of Afghan digging.......I am not sure what they contribute to re-construction effort to the civilian populations.......
But anyway.....continue our Carbon Cycle.