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View Full Version : No, the U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1T Afghan Motherlode




jmdrake
06-19-2010, 08:27 AM
Yet another reason why the plans to invade Afghanistan were on the table before 9/11 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm). I guess the Taliban should have taken that offer for a carpet of gold versus a carpet of bombs (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/08/ltm.05.html).

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/no-the-military-didnt-just-discover-an-afghan-mineral-motherlode/



Danger Room What's Next in National Security

No, the U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1T Afghan Motherlode (Updated)

* By Katie Drummond Email Author
* June 14, 2010 |
* 10:20 am |
* Categories: Af/Pak
*

Despite what you may read this morning, the U.S. military did not just “discover” a trillion dollars’ worth of precious minerals in Afghanistan.

The New York Times today proclaimed that Afghanistan is apparently poised to become “the Saudi Arabia of lithium” — a metal used to produce gadgets like iPods and laptops. The discovery will also, according to Pentagon documents quoted by the Times, fundamentally transform the country’s opium-reliant economy.

But the military (and observers of the military) have known about Afghanistan’s mineral riches for years. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Navy concluded in a 2007 report that “Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered nonfuel mineral resources,” including ”large quantities of accessible iron and copper [and] abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, ruby [and] sapphire.”

Not to mention that the $1 trillion figure is — at best — a guesstimate. None of the earlier U.S military reports on Afghan’s mineral riches cite that amount. And it might be prudent to be wary of any data coming out of Afghanistan’s own Mines Ministry, which “has long been considered one of the country’s most corrupt government departments,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

And the timing of the “discovery” seems just a little too convenient. As Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy notes, the Obama administration is struggling to combat the perception that the Afghan campaign has “made little discernible progress,” despite thousands of additional troops and billions of extra dollars.

Still, Pentagon officials are touting the find as a potential economic game-changer — and one that could end decades of conflict. But whether it’s oil or coltan, rich pockets of resources are always a mixed blessing. Just ask children in Congo, home to 80 percent of the world’s coltan supply, who were forced to mine for the precious metal that was later used to manufacture tech gadgets.

It’ll take years, and a ton of capital investment, before Afghanistan’s deposits can even be mined. And when they can, it’s anybody’s guess who’ll actually be profiting. Hounshell sums up the mess nicely:

Meanwhile, the drive for Kandahar looks to be stalled in the face of questionable local support for Karzai’s government, the Taliban is killing local authorities left and right, and the corruption situation has apparently gotten so bad that the U.S. intelligence community is now keeping tabs on which Afghan officials are stealing what.

UPDATE:

One retired senior U.S official is calling the government’s mineral announcement “pretty silly,” Politico is reporting. “When I was living in Kabul in the early 1970s the [U.S. government], the Russians, the World Bank, the U.N. and others were all highly focused on the wide range of Afghan mineral deposits. Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor.”

At least two American geologists have been advising the Pentagon on Afghanistan’s wealth of mineral resources for years. Bonita Chamberlin, a geologist who spent 25 years working in Afghanistan, “identified 91 minerals, metals and gems at 1,407 potential mining sites,” the Los Angeles Times reported in 2001. In 1995, she even co-wrote a book, “Gemstones in Afghanistan,” on the topic. And Chamberlin worked directly with the Pentagon, after they commissioned her to report on sandstone and limestone caves mere weeks after 9/11.

“I am quite surprised that the military is announcing this as some ‘new’ and ’surprising” discovery,’ she told Danger Room in an e-mail. “This is NOT new. Perhaps this also hints at the real reason why we would be so intent on this war.”

And Jack Shroder, a geologist at the University of Nebraska, told the Associated Press in 2001 that mineral deposits in Afghanistan were so rich, they could be vital in rebuilding the country. He’s collaborated with Pentagon officials since the 1970s, when he worked on mapping the country. In 2002, Shroder was approached by several American companies who hoped to start mining the area.

It’s not clear exactly what those experts shared with military honchos, but the Pentagon’s knowledge of Afghanistan’s minerals clearly preceded the 2004 discovery of “an intriguing series of old charts and data,” as the Times reports. In 2002, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Mineral Yearbook, among other atlases, noted Afghanistan’s “significant deposits of gold, precious stones and other minerals waiting to be mined.”

But whatever the U.S military knows, and no matter how long they’ve known it, Russia likely has ‘em beat. At a 2002 conference on rebuilding Afghanistan, reps from several countries complained that Russia continued to withhold decades-old information about mineral deposits in the country.

Photo: U.S Geological Survey

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/no-the-military-didnt-just-discover-an-afghan-mineral-motherlode/#ixzz0rIuiWuXB

Anti Federalist
06-19-2010, 11:25 AM
Nice find, thanks.

tangent4ronpaul
06-19-2010, 11:35 AM
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html

Natural resources:
Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order.
natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stones

-t

lynnf
06-19-2010, 12:28 PM
"Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor.”


well, it's convenient that they now have lots of military chauffers and transports, now, isn't it?

lynn

HOLLYWOOD
06-19-2010, 01:09 PM
Why do you think we have Embassies and Consulates? Do you think they're there just for VISAs and state dinners to host countries?

We have analysts, CIA, FBI, DIA, DIS, etc etc etc agents, to know what's in every country and how it serves U.S. best... or should I say serves the Imperial Empire best?

Doesn't everyone use the CIA fact book these days? ;)

fatjohn
06-19-2010, 01:15 PM
Well, a trillion can't cover the cost of the war you know. and they still need to mine it. But i guess it will be a lot more then one trillion when all is said and done.

RSLudlum
06-19-2010, 01:39 PM
Afghanistan hold any sources of "tech minerals"? If so, quite interesting timing with the EU putting out this report after the recent announcement.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/e-u-faces-shortages-of-key-minerals/?src=busln



E.U. Faces Shortages of Key Tech Minerals
June 17, 2010, 12:34 AM

The European Union is facing shortages of 14 “critical” raw materials needed for mobile phones and emerging technologies like solar panels and synthetic fuels, according to a study by the European Commission that was scheduled for release on Thursday.

read more here (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/e-u-faces-shortages-of-key-minerals/?src=busln)

BlackTerrel
06-19-2010, 01:52 PM
Not to mention that the $1 trillion figure is — at best — a guesstimate. None of the earlier U.S military reports on Afghan’s mineral riches cite that amount. And it might be prudent to be wary of any data coming out of Afghanistan’s own Mines Ministry, which “has long been considered one of the country’s most corrupt government departments,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

This. It's also not certain that's minable. It's not certain how much is there. It's not certain what the costs are to extract it - and then how expensive it is to ship it to where it needs to go.

Don't believe the media hype. There is no way they can just say there is that much value down there. It's more likely it's worthless (once you consider all the costs) than it's worth $1 trillion.

Cap
06-19-2010, 01:56 PM
Yet another reason why the plans to invade Afghanistan were on the table before 9/11 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm). I guess the Taliban should have taken that offer for a carpet of gold versus a carpet of bombs (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/08/ltm.05.html).



No, this.

devil21
06-19-2010, 02:27 PM
"Cheap ways of moving the ore to ocean ports has always been the limiting factor.”


well, it's convenient that they now have lots of military chauffers and transports, now, isn't it?

lynn

Probably a railroad or two built on taxpayer funding for military purposes as well. That's a rarely talked about "reason" for war actually. It builds infrastructure on the taxpayer dime to be handed over later to private corporations (usually tied to the politicians themselves) to exploit the resources of the recently invaded country.

awake
06-19-2010, 02:34 PM
The spoils of war and [ bonus] not in China's control.

DirtMcGirt
10-16-2010, 09:28 AM
I didn't hear about this story until today...


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html

Wiki---"Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, high strength-to-weight alloys used in aircraft, lithium batteries and lithium-ion batteries. Lithium also has important links to nuclear physics"

AGRP
10-16-2010, 09:40 AM
I was told we were fighting for my freedoms?

Kludge
10-16-2010, 10:22 AM
I didn't hear about this story until today...


[/URL][URL]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html)

Wiki---"Lithium and its compounds have several industrial applications, including heat-resistant glass and ceramics, high strength-to-weight alloys used in aircraft, lithium batteries and lithium-ion batteries. Lithium also has important links to nuclear physics"

+1 thanks for bump

I hear we're running out of lithium pretty quick - but I hear that about every resource...

pcosmar
10-16-2010, 10:24 AM
I was told we were fighting for my freedoms?

yeah, the guys are told that too
:(

johngr
10-16-2010, 12:12 PM
Don't believe the media hype. There is no way they can just say there is that much value down there. It's more likely it's worthless (once you consider all the costs) than it's worth $1 trillion.

Kind of like the street value of drug busts.

Kotin
10-16-2010, 12:18 PM
Thanks for posting this..