BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Discovers Nearly $1 Trillion in Afghan Mineral Deposits

[Mira]

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.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?emc=na

[saltpoint]

1. O shit.

[FedUp_Queer]

77. Then there's this...

I can see my thought agreed with many people, namely...we had to be looking for it. We don't just stumble onto this. Then there's this...to actually MAKE you barf: An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,”...

[saltpoint]

89. It sounds to me like several decades of rough road coming up.

Good god.

[RedCloud]

102. Notice its "US" NOT "Afghanistan" discovers. Freaking imperialists.

So that energy pipeline to the West ploy has a major second line of "defense"

[newtothegame]

128. The engineers were U.S. engineers. No rocket science here. nt

[happygoluckytoyou]

220. RELATED STORY---> war will pay for itself !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[snooper2]

103. Sounds to me like a great chance for the Afghan people

and the country to have a real economy and a chance to join the 21st century....

[liberation]

116. I have some great ocean front property in Arizona...

... in case you were interested in a great investing opportunity.

[snooper2]

159. so you do some research on ATM technology over the weekend

or are you going to leave it to the experts? :rofl:

I've got some pricing quotes on some fully redundant OC3 facilites out of the CO at 60 Hudson street in NYC if your curious on that as well..

[nichomachus]

139. Sounds to me like a great chance for global corporations

To make trillions of dollars while keeping the Afghan people in poverty

[snooper2]

157. Yeah, they have a lot of job opportunities right now

I'm sure all the college grads in Kabal who majored in geology are going to start mining companies now. They have a lot of graduates in finance as well right? I hear International trade classes are booked thru 2014. Afghanistan also leads the World in Environmental science majors. Top class I hear!!!

Maybe Caterpillar will be able to open a factory in Gardez now to supply the equipment all these new Afghani based businesses will require!

[mmonk]

218. You bet.

More corporate suitors are coming to the party.

[nichomachus]

165. Please name the mideast countries -- in order of wealth

where the broad mass of people -- not just a wealthy elite -- have benefitted from their natural resources.

[ooglymoogly]

203. Not in the middle east, but Venezuela is one such place.

And that is why "our" government is trying so hard to demonize them; Because big corp cannot steal their oil; Presidents have been assassinated for less. It would astound me to find big corp with its private army the C-eye-A has not planted its flag on this mountain of wealth.

[davidwparker]

174. you forgot to add the :sarcasm: graphic

[Beavker]

184. You'd think Oil would have done that the for Middle East

The people won't get shit from it. We'll be there though to make sure we get our cut. As we are with Oil.

[defendandprotect]

186. Excellent point . . .

[maryf]

206. So handy that we're already there!!!

Surprise!!

[xxqqqzme]

204. more like decades of poverty while multinational

corporations rape the natural resources and leave the country a huge slag heap.

Just one disaster after another and the hits just keep coming.

[caseymoz]

94. Which could never make me less depressed about Afghanistan

and what we're doing and why we're doing it. Now multinationals will be colonizing Afghanistan in force and polluting it. It will "transform" the country overnight, all right, as this has everywhere else.

We do know this is the real reason why our troops have even been in the country for eight years now. "Open up commerce." Whereas a few Afghanis will profit from this, most will be driven further into poverty, and the rest will be poisoned by pollution the way the Gulf is and the way China is.

If the minerals are to be exploited, it has to be on better terms.

[rainy]

118. you are right. The multi-national corps. will take over operations

pollute their waterways, air and land and give nothing back to the people. As usual.

[ooglymoogly]

119. Now for some dictator to prop up and pay off, so big corp can steal it all.

Oh wait......

[davidwparker]

172. Hartmann was talking today about may this was one

reason the former USSR had to get to Afghanistan.

[Name removed]

187. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Raksha]

173. That was my first thought too, when I read the subject line.

For obvious reasons.

[Bonobo]

2. THAT explains a lot.

Like why the fuck we are there.

[Merlot]

7. My first thought too.

[Mojorabbit]

55. Oh my.......nt

[earth mom]

63. Another piece of the puzzle, another dot to connect. nt

[Dr.Phool]

78. And why we'll never leave now.

[WeDidIt]

93. Uh, dude. You're putting the cart before the horse

They just discovered these reserves.

[ooglymoogly]

122. LOL! Oh the naivete. nt

[WeDidIt]

138. LOL! Oh the tinfoil. n/t

[nichomachus]

141. Then why were American geologists looking for minerals in the middle of a war?

[WeDidIt]

144. There are American civilians all over Afghanistan working on multiple projects

It's called "economic development" and it's how we get our troops out of there.

There are American civilians there in the middle of a war building schools and helping with other public works.

[nichomachus]

147. Yeah. I was born at night

but not last night

[Name removed]

150. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[KurtNYC]

152. We aren't pulling out of that region -- Iraq, Afghanistan, etc -- until

the oil is all pumped out. We are there to fight over the world's remaining natural resources. It is like a big pinata and the party won't end until all the candy is grabbed.

It might not even be true that there is lithium there -- consider the source. But if it is true then the minerals will do for Afghanistan what diamonds and uranium did for the indigenous peoples of Africa: attract and sustain colonization and exploitation.

[AllyCat]

132. No, they are just now telling us about the reserves. I'm sure they have known

for a long, long time.

[WeDidIt]

140. Pssst, there are tinfoil reserves in them thar hills n/t

[kenfrequed]

194. The only thing more irritating than an irrational conspiracy theorist...

Is someone that assumes every question about a story or the media is automatically a conspiracy theorist at work and then denies those questions as though the argument comes from such a place.

or...

The Strawman argument you are using is big enough to be used at next years "burning man festival."

Would it really surprise you if a company actually kept knowledge of the existence of minerals a secret as long as possible?

Another question, while we are on the topic, percisely what office of the Army, Air Force, or anywhere in the defense department deals with doing mineral surveys? How did the military find time (or the equipment and expertise) needed to carry out such a survey?

Of course the article points out that U.S. government geologists helped discover these various ores. What suggested this be accomplished in the first place? what was the motivation?

[WeDidIt]

195. No office of the Pentagon does it.

The United States Geological Service did it.

It's SOP. Civil Service Geodesy and Geophysics experts are sent in to survey all areas where the United States military operates. During the survey, things like this are routinely discovered.

This has been going on since the end of World War II. It is Standard Operating Procedure.

[kenfrequed]

192. Uhm

How many different mineral reserves of how many types did they just discover all at once?

Don't start out thinking conspiracy/anti-conspiracy. Start out imagining what goes into a mineral survey and that most of these minerals would require different organizations doing different kinds of surveys. Then tell me they just discovered all of this since last week and see if you can keep a straight face.

[4_TN_TITANS]

104. Exactly... Can we finally say Mission Accomplished

or do we have to 'stick around' to help them 'manage' their national treasure. Karzai and his cronies are going to be on this like a duck on a june bug.

[snooper2]

105. Another one who only read the thread and not the article..

I know it's a whole 2 PAGE article but come on....

[liberation]

117. Now, if you had actually read the post you were replying to...

[HughMoran]

109. Oh, so now the pipeline theory gets put to rest?

Next up: Afghanistan has vast untapped oil fields...

[ooglymoogly]

125. Once again HM to the rescue of militaristic gubment. nt

[HughMoran]

161. No logical arguments are allowed - they will be met with mockery and derision

Thanks for proving my point.

[givemebackmycountry]

111. And why we ain't leaving anytime soon as well.

Shit...

[AllyCat]

131. Said the same thing downstream...now I see your post. Agree completely.

[mattvermont]

3. And the real reason for war is disclosed

create the diversion necessary for a few US geologists to get inside and find the "Gold".

[burnsei sensei]

14. +1

nt

[Donnachaidh]

30. +100,000

Just like invading Iraq *wasn't about the oil*. How many kids have DIED so corporations could *find* new resources?

[glinda]

65. Gold is the interest of Bush Sr. isn't it?

[valerief]

114. Yep. War is always about resources. They recruit soldiers by saying it's about rights. It's never

about rights.

[RufusTFirefly]

149. +1 n/t

[Earth_First]

4. ...and we just so HAPPENED to stumble upon this on patrol?

methinks NOT!

[Bluebear]

17. Color me shocked and amazed!

:rofl:

[snooper2]

106. read the article

nobody here reads...

[nichomachus]

142. They were looking for a lost contact lens -- and just found the minerals

[amerikat]

5. No Unobtanium?

Shit. All this for a mining operation.

[grahamhgreen]

68. Maybe thats why they called in Cameron!

[Fumesucker]

6. Once again our minerals end up under some Muslim's land..

This is becoming a habit.

The bright side is that there is plenty of cheap labor to be exploited over there and they're not going to be concerned with any silly safety or environmental rules.

[Robb]

31. China's, actually.

The US missed this boat already. But hey, if anyone knows how to properly exploit cheap labor, it's China.

[liberation]

120. Huh? Why would they import Chinese labor to work in these Afghan mines?

[Robb]

148. What makes you think they would?

China has brought the skilled end of mining -- engineers, map-makers etc. -- and hired locals in Logar for years. But Aynak is a Chinese endeavor, and is probably going to finish up as the largest copper mine in world history. $3 billion investment, $30 billion in ore by the time they're done. And that's just one mine.

[eShirl]

8. oh gee

would you look at that

[backscatter712]

9. Hello, Afghanistan, meet Resource Curse!

Soon, on top of the existing wars and corruption, you'll get to see all the mayhem that countries like Nigeria see because they're sitting on top of mineral resources...

[Odin2005]

26. Or Congo!

A lot of Congo's problem have to do with control over cobalt mines.

[Catherina]

10. Like they didn't know already. Imagine their shock n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. No wonder Cheney hasn't been seen lately.

[smirkymonkey]

190. He's busy digging the minerals out with his bare hands and teeth.

Before China or Russia get to them first.

[burnsei sensei]

12. Imperial colonialism, anyone?

I suppose it's time for another Great Game to start.

[piedmont]

13. Bye, bye, mountains. nt

[Mira]

25. That's was my second thought exactly.

First one:
New and different pipelines needed now, and no end to the occupation in sight.

[earth mom]

64. Yep. Endless war. nt

[Bluebear]

15. LOLOL yeah just a surprise "discovery", I'm certain

[Octafish]

51. It's a surprise to NYT...

...and its millions of readers who consider it "the paper of record" and, thus, the news.

Not news to Bluebear and DU... 9-11 was for the oil and mineral rights to South Asia.

[malaise]

82. Ding ding

DUers are always light years ahead of M$Greedia

[Blue_Tires]

107. +1

[robertpaulsen]

163. Thanks for the pertinent link, Octafish.

What Klare warned about, http://www.wanttoknow.info/brzezinskigrandchessboard">Zbigniew Brzezinski practically bragged about.

[goclark]

200. Hi Octafish!

[readmoreoften]

74. Yes, some soldiers on a mission chipped into a cave and said "hmm" this looks interesting...

I wonder if it has any value. AND, WOW, IT DID!!! :eyes:

So Afghanistan has more than geopolitical value, huh. Expect more "militants", more "al qaeda", and more "surges" in the news.

[flyarm]

16. ahhh yes...that is what our soldiers have been dying and being maimed for!! eom

[mod mom]

86. oh come on...some elitists took a big hit in the market lately and deserve to be compensated!

:mad:

[flyarm]

87. silly me..i should have thought of that and been more compassionate!! What I need to know

is what day is it..Am I supposed to be against the war today ..or for it ?? I get so confused anymore..I spent so much time against this war..and now I am suddenly thrown a wrench..and told anything this admiistration does is hunky dory..so is it for or aggainst the war today?? Whats a girl to think???????

[Parker CA]

18. Motivation now very apparent. nt..

[USArmyParatrooper]

19. This is actually good news

A viable resource for the Afghan economy besides growing poppy fields.

[rucky]

22. Potentially.

but with all the corrupt factions, it may extend our occupation.

[USArmyParatrooper]

36. This is true

It's one more thing to fight over. I guarantee this has raised eyebrows with the Taliban, who pay off and bully locals to grow poppy plants.

[liberation]

121. I think you misspelled "Multinational Corporations" as "Afghan Economy"

[AllyCat]

134. The corporations will convince them that it is good for them to pay through the nose

for "bolstering their economy" and they will end up broke and pillaged just like us. Corporations are not going to allow anyone to make money except themselves.

[nichomachus]

143. ROFLOL!

Good news for global corporations -- bad news for the Afghan people. Instead of growing poppies, the Afghan people will get to work 12 hours a day in the mines.

[me b zola]

155. Just like Africa!

Ask Charles Taylor, he'll tell ya all about it.

[ShamelessHussy]

162. actually i see this is their last card to play in 'justifying' all our blood treasure and time there

thus far... but this is why this has been a host spot to begin with.

[JonLP24]

221. Hopefully

The US doesn't liberate them from their wealth.

[scarletwoman]

I'm shocked, shocked. Who would have ever guessed that all those minerals were there?

Lucky Afghans!

*sigh*

[Bluebear]

20. 'An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia....

of lithium"


INTERNAL.

PENTAGON.

MEMO.

[safeinOhio]

40. Are their enough bi-polar people

to make it worth while?
:sarcasm:

[laughingliberal]

72. Noteworthy. nt

[Ikonoklast]

137. You realize, of course that the Pentagon does research on every country

on Earth; the resources, labor, economy, political factions...everything.

They have a paper on France, too. Brazil. Iran...

It's what they do, assess economic and political factors of a country and how that may affect the region geopolitically, and assess military response to adverse conditions that may imperil us directly, an ally or friendly nation.

[nichomachus]

145. Most people in Saudi Arabia are poor

It's only an elite few that benefit from the oil riches. It will be the same in Afghanistan.

[RufusTFirefly]

151. Yup. We'll make a handful of Afghans rich, rape the country's resources, and

.. keep the vast majority in utter poverty.

Assuming we can find the right bloodthirsty despot for the job, everything should go swimmingly. At least for a while.

Then one day we'll wring our hands and wonder, "Why do they hate us?"

[Odin2005]

21. How CONVENIENT...

:grr:

[blaze]

23. Original data collected by the Soviets in the 1980s

Interesting article.

[City Lights]

24. Well that answers a lot of questions. nt

[moondust]

27. Good for the Afghans.

Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Abdullah...

In the grand scheme of things it is probably best that this kind of wealth does not fall into the hands of the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies.

[applegrove]

39. Yup.

[Catherina]

53. Right. Just *right* n/t

[blindpig]

83. Are the Taliban or the multi-nationals are the greater evil?

Honestly, who has caused more death and destruction?

[Demstud]

98. Honestly?

I'm more worried about what Al Qaeda and the Taliban would do with those kind of resources.

[blindpig]

100. Could it be any worse than what is happening in the Gulf?

That, my friend, is the clear and present danger.

[snooper2]

108. You know, I saw a GE exec. murder a 10 year old girl the other day

for not going to school...couldn't believe it

[blindpig]

175. Cute, but no prize

And I suppose that the imperial war is being fought for the women and children, eh?

A million dead in the Congo Basin so the Big Boys can extract to their hearts delight. How many in the Niger Delta? Have you forgotten Bhopal? Union organizers, murdered every year. Indigenous people all over the world murdered or driven off their land. And still, that's the tip of the iceberg. Eleven dead in the Gulf so far, that toll may not be known for years. Workers dying due to unsafe working conditions, who knows how many worldwide. And on and on......

But you keep worrying about that 10 year old girl.

[nichomachus]

181. Silly -- GE doesn't kill people -- at least where anyone can see them

[conspirator]

202. your argumentation is the one that is of a 10 year old

Rich people don't need to kill with their bare hands. They own the government and the MIC. They start wars and kill a lot more that the street criminal.

[Raksha]

176. As usual, the Taliban and the multi-nationals will work together covertly

to keep the Afghan people in a state of superstitious ignorance so they either can't or won't fight the coming exploitation. Just like in Africa and everywhere else. Look for a resurgence of the Taliban and Wahhabi-style fundamentalist Islam as one of the first manifestations of this "discovery."

If it isn't well advanced already.

[paparush]

97. You don't REALLY think that working class Afghans will see any benefit from this?

C'mon. Those are America's minerals they are hoarding. :sarcasm:

Hell, our govt lease our own mineral rights away for pennies on the dollar to mega-corps and the local people, the people who's lives get disrupted so mega-corps can access said minerals, rarely see a dime. In fact, the local pops usually just get sick from the fallout of the mineral extraction.

[TheKentuckian]

115. A generally empty concern as the Taliban has neither the knowledge or equipment

to mine the resource.

The multi-nationals are many magnitudes more of a threat than a few religious nuts.

[moondust]

170. They don't need it if they control the gov't.

They'll just find some scavenging, rapacious mining companies to sign contracts with.

Know of any ruthless mountaintop removal companies looking for some rich mountains to level using third world labor?

[TheKentuckian]

214. That's a corporate policing issue. No Pax Americana means you

can't even get the equipment into Afghanistan and sure as hell can't maintain operations or ship product.

The military's main job is to protect commerce.

[moondust]

222. Maybe American equipment.

I'll bet a Taliban government could find some mining companies in Africa or elsewhere to sign some contracts with.

[nichomachus]

179. Yup -- they get to work 12 hour days, six days a week in the Halliburton mines

[sakabatou]

28. Time to exploit it!

[tekisui]

29. Interesting, to say the least.

I'll keep an eye on this. Thanks, Mira!:hi:

[grasswire]

32. NYT name your sources!!!!!!!

This is useless without attribution. "Senior government officials" and "internal Pentagon memo" and "government spokesman" do NOT make it believeable.

Didn't Judith Miller use "senior government officials" a bit too often?

I call BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS.

How stupid do they think we are?

[Robb]

33. It's all true, it's just not news.

We've known about it for years.

The "news" is that it's suddenly "news." Three years after China already invested $3 billion in mining contracts it won from the Afghans in 2007.

We have troops on the ground, China does not, but they have sizable assets there without any security but us. This is diplomacy; the question is, what are we pressuring China about?

[wolfgangmo]

88. They hold a lot of debt and have been hacking into pentagon computers.

This is just a friendly reminder that as long as they play ball they get to stay in the game but that we could remove any of their chess pieces at any time.

[TransitJohn]

34. Sweet, Maybe some Afghanis can get some good jobs.

Solidarity in labor!

[smirkymonkey]

193. Arbeit Macht Frei!

[Trillo]

35. So is this what was in those State Department memos that the wikileaks founder

is maybe in possession of and the Pentagon is said to be on a manhunt for?

Years ago I read that satellites could pass a beam of some kind through the earth, and literally map everything inside (underground).

Don't know if the page I read was the truth or not, but this occurrence suggests maybe so.

If only "economies" could figure a way to benefit everyone equally.

[elias49]

57. I had similar thoughts...

lots of arguments recently about how disclosure of international cables was bound to cost people their lives..."How could a soldier give up such info?" "The man needs to be in jail - forever!"

Sometimes a little sunshine in international affairs of state is more embarrassing than lethal.

[Jkid]

37. This just changes everything.

Except for the Afghanistani's. History will repeat itself.

Meanwhile, 4chan's /new/ also discovers this new development.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:04 No.1329872
It belongs to the Afghan people.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:05 No.1329889
>>1329872
Fuck them. We found it and we're bigger.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:06 No.1329893
>>1329889
We could at least fucking split it.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:07 No.1329909
>>1329889
>stealing from world's second worst nation behind Niger
Sure is colonialism in here.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:05 No.1329890
Great. So they go ahead and publicly announce the find. They should have taken over the land and waited a couple of decades before they "discovered" it. Now anyone can have it.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:07 No.1329904
>>1329890
It's like the government decided to not be corrupt or something.

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:08 No.1329913
>>1329904
at the worst possible time!

why couldn't they just keep doing what they've been doing?

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:08 No.1329919
Fuck, now their going to keep our troops over there for 50+ years so the Talibans don't get it

Anonymous 06/13/10(Sun)22:10 No.1329943
Interesting, and perhaps one of the better things that could have happened to Afghanistan. Hopefully this brings them some foreign investment and stability.

[Hydra]

58. You know, it's ironic that the Channers are so perceptive at times

I've read some of the more interesting doublespeak shredding in /b/ of all places.

[RC]

38. Great. So now we have to stay to protect the corporations doing the mining.

I wonder how long it will take for someone to announce that part of the "profits" will help pay for the war there?
Jest like we done in Irak, huh?

[Solly Mack]

41. Is that the same 1 trillion mentioned earlier this year? (most likely)

Afghanistan's mineral resources are worth $1 trillion (Feb 2010)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7627804

I remember reading about it.

2007 U.S. Department of the Interior USGS report
Preliminary Mineral Resource Assessment of Selected Mineral Deposit Types in Afghanistan
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1005/pdf/OFR2007-1005.pdf

2005 World Bank study

http://www.fdi.net/investmenthorizons_afghanistan/horizon.pdf



2006 USGS report

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1038/


U.S. Department of the Interior USGS Projects in Afghanistan

http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/documents.php



In case anyone wants to read more

[amborin]

42. Not breaking news; old news: see here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7618248&mesg_id=7618248

[maryf]

207. +1

but when its the NYTimes you know its true! ;)

[donco]

43. Well they can

kiss their mountains good-by.

[ProgressiveVictory]

44. We should help them set up an economy based on this instead of opium.

isn't that a win win situation?

[Bryn]

45. Wow!

I am speechless.

[MisterP]

46. Afghanistan's long been the source for many gemstones: lapis lazuli and many of the world's

most famous and beautiful jewels

not that it'll help them...

[laughingliberal]

73. I know the most valuable sapphires in the world were mined in Afghanistan. nt

[Uzybone]

47. unrec, for old news being reported as breaking news

the M$M is useless.

[Mira]

48. It came to my email from NYTimes Breaking News minutes before I posted it here.

I think many, like me, had not known this.
So I don't regret posting it.

[Uzybone]

56. not unreccing the fact you posted it

but unreccing the fact that the NYTimes considers this breaking news.

You did nothing wrong in posting the info. Thanks.

[Javaman]

91. I'm curious as to why this piece of propaganda is being release now?

and it being tauted as "breaking news"?

What purpose does this smoke screen serve?

[tekisui]

112. We can't let that kind of wealth fall into the hands of teh evil Taliban!

It, like everything from Afghanistan, is PR to try and salvage the plummeting public support.

[Spheric]

129. K&R That is indeed the question. /nt

[lib2DaBone]

49. Their Hearts and Minds Mean A Lot more.....

.. when they are backed up with Titanium, Platinum and Palladium.

It makes their litle Neocon Republican hearts all a-glow with the warm and fuzzies...

[Octafish]

50. + 6 Billion

Enemies of the Haves', I, Fodder Unit.

[MadHound]

52. This has been known for decades, after all, that's why various countries have made war there

The Russians knew it, the Americans knew it, there are geological reports going back over one hundred years that speak of Afghanistan's mineral wealth.

The USGS has put out reports in 2002 on this subject, which referenced old Soviet reports from the seventies. They've also had a mineral mapping mission over there since 2005.

Here are some relevant links:
<http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3063/fs2007-3063.pdf>
<http://www.mindat.org/loc-14319.html>
<http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of02-110/of02-110.pdf>

They're just "discovering" this now due to political and economic exigencies.

[Catherina]

54. Alexandra the Great fucking knew there were riches there

but we're *shocked* and it's breaking news.

In case weird things about community happen and I never see you again, I love your posts.

[liberation]

123. Is that the lesser known sister of Alexander?

;-)

[Hydra]

59. Ya, and oddly I remember the info being slammed at various points here

...as being "a conspiracy theory."

After all, we were going to leave, right...?

BFS, IMO.

[amborin]

60. and China is already mining it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x74584#74644

[maryf]

208. and we have

bases all around China...

[go west young man]

189. Thank you...it seems a lot of Non-tin foil hat wearers forgot to take

Imperialism 101. At least our soldiers can now know why they really fight. They don't have to lie to themselves any longer. It's out in the open. That terrorism argument had grown old and outdated anyway.

[McCamy Taylor]

61. That means we will never get out.

[DFW]

62. Not surprising

Here in Western Europe, Afghans have been coming for over ten years to mineral shows with huge, amazing and very expensive finds of aquamarine and tourmaline crystals, plus lapis lazuli, which has been coming out that region for over 2500 years. One of them even told me that he takes his best stuff to a mineral show in Tucson every year. So, it's not surprising that there is other stuff there, as well. Should make for one more generation of Afghan civil war stories.

[earth mom]

66. I'm not surprised at all. The wars have been about money & profit all along. nt

[mzteris]

67. think of what the Taliban could do

with that kind of money... The Taliban a world power -

now that's a very scary thought.

[grahamhgreen]

69. All of a sudden they just discovered it all over the place.

[wiggs]

70. For potential impact on afganistanis, read Confessions of An Economic Hitman. nt

[Desertrose]

71. We'll never leave there now... n/t

[H2O Man]

75. Recommended.

Mere coincidence, I'm sure.

[lostnfound]

76. And it will be handed over to the boss -- a few multinational corporations. nt

[Soylent Brice]

79. K&R

[Turbineguy]

80. Give Afganistan to the Taliban.

Let them fuck it up.

[atomic-fly]

81. on MSNBC this morning...

Erin (MSNBC) just said the US Military/Contractors provides security for Chinese mining companies.

[Lorien]

168. Um, no. Never a good idea to empower religious extremists

The Taliban is like our far Right; a very loud minority, but still a minority. Allow the country to be a more secular sovereign Nation again.

[conscious evolution]

84. Hmmm? Can you say lithium-ion batteries?

[Nordmadr]

85. Wonder why we've got a bunch of geologists there to begin with? N/T

[nichomachus]

182. We always do that. Remember all the geologists who were in France during WW2?

[Javaman]

90. Yes, "discovers"...

Why do you think the soviets invaded afghanistan? for it's beaches?

this is nothing new.

About 6 years ago when I first joined DU, I stated that anyone paying attention knows that afghanistan is mineral rich. A quick check of the CIA profile of the nation reveals as much.

this isn't some sort of grand revelation.

I'm just wondering why they are putting out this total bullshit statement now.

Also, did you also know that a region in the south western part of the country also has oil deposits?

come on, folks, crap don't fall from the skies.

So is the government going to use this as an excuse to keep us there?

"we will mine afghanistan back to self reliance!!"

Afghanistan: the new superfund site!!

The question I want answered is: who will get that fat contract to do all the mining?

>shakes head in wonder<

[fascisthunter]

92. I guess the occupation will be much longer now

we were never there for stability anyway.

[WeDidIt]

95. This is INCREDIBLY GOOD NEWS!

This means that Afghanis will have a means of transforming their economy and stop relying on the opium trade for wealth.

Nothing will do more to form a cohesive government than these discoveries.

Nothing will speed the process of American troops being capable of leaving Afghanistan more than these discoveries.

This is the best news out of Afghanistan since September 11, 2001.

[liberation]

124. Somewhere in hell...

... Goebbels just went all teary eyed with pride.

[HughMoran]

167. So not seeing a conspiracy in this makes the poster a Nazi?

:crazy:

[Name removed]

183. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nichomachus]

146. This is incredible pollyanna nonsense

The global corporations will reap the profits, pay off the corrupt pro-corporate politicians, who will live like kings, and the Afghan people will get an opportunity to work in the mines for scab wages.

Unless, of course, you're talking about life on a different planet.

[WeDidIt]

199. Oooooh, evil bogeyman corporations

:eyes:

[KurtNYC]

160. If you don't use a sarcasm icon your statements may be

seen as flame bait.

[WeDidIt]

197. Then where's your sarcasm icon?

My statement is 100% accurate and sincere.

[paparush]

96. I wonder who's been sitting on this info and for how long? nt

[OnyxCollie]

99. K&R. nt

[LarryNM]

101. Mineral Rights to China - Profits to Global Corporations - Dead Soldiers to US

Afterall, we will be forced to pay those debts to China somehow.

[cbdo2007]

110. Great - Just what afghanistan needs. This is like when people win the lottery

and they think they'll be happy with $200 Million and then all the bad things that happen following and they end up getting killed.

A huge deposit of mineral deposits is NOT good for an economy because it isn't the people there actually creating and selling something viable. It will just flood the already corrupt Afghan govt. with more money for their pockets while the people there starve. and removing the govt isn't the answer because ANY Afghan govt. will do the same.

[valerief]

113. So it wasn't just the poppies! nt

[pleah]

126. Someone lie to me again about how we are over there for

democracy and the war on terror. :grr:

[pepperbear]

127. does this mean we can stop pretending to find Bin Laden now? n/t

[Melissa G]

133. Exactly. Bin Laden Who? n/t

[bergie321]

156. Who?

[AllyCat]

130. So that's why we're in Afghanistan.

We spend all our tax dollars and go broke and die defending the corporations "right" to extract whatever they want from whoever they want.

This actually answers a lot of questions for me.

[pepperbear]

135. "Paging Captain Jack Sparrow: We've found the buried treasure."

[JDPriestly]

136. We are still waiting for the Iraq War to be paid for by Iraqi Oil.

Yeah. Sure. We taxpayers pay the soldiers who go to fight in these wars. We buy all their military equipment. With our huge military, we destroy countries, and then big, international corporations that don't begin to pay their share in taxes come in, exploit the resources of the decimated countries and pay our politicians off. We end up with -- no money for schools, pensions, medical care, our environment -- and, of course, higher taxes.

Stop the exploitation. Tax the wealthy. They are the only ones who receive any benefit from these wars.

[geardaddy]

153. Did they find Unobtanium?

[robertpaulsen]

154. Wasn't Zbig talking about this in 1997 in his book The Grand Chessboard?

Referring to an area he calls the "Eurasian Balkans" and a 1997 map in which he has circled the exact location of the current conflict - describing it as the central region of pending conflict for world dominance - Brzezinski writes: "Moreover, they are of importance from the standpoint of security and historical ambitions to at least three of their most immediate and more powerful neighbors, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, with China also signaling an increasing political interest in the region. But the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize: an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold." (p.124)

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/zbig.html

He may not have quantified it in terms of a trillion dollars, but he was definitely on to its mineral wealth that made it "infinitely more important as a potential economic prize".

[Paper Roses]

158. "Just discovers". Sure.

Just like I believe all the other baloney lately.

[disillusioned73]

164. This surely explains a lot..

looks like it all does revole around the almighty $$$$$$

I guess I can stop asking WTF are we still doing there.... question answered

[spanone]

166. shizzam

[nichomachus]

169. We've know this for years -- but this is the CHANGE we voted for

The US has known about this reserves since at least 2007. So, why is it being trotted out now? Well, under the last administration, whenever support for the war was flagging, we'd get a Bin laden video.

Apparently, Cheney took the Bin Laden videos with him when he left. So, Barry and his gang bring out the mineral hoard that's going tosave the Afghan people.

Right, they'll all be living in high rises and driving cadillacs before summer is over.

Well, a handful of them will. Most Afghans will be putting in 12-hour days in the mines.

[GreenStormCloud]

171. Granite upthrust mountains are mineral rich. Surprise????

The only news here is that the Pentagon is bringing attention to it.

[EVDebs]

177. What's that old Folger's coffee line .... 'good to the last drop'. Oil companies new pr line

Afganistan = Pandora ! Off to the next exploitable locale !

[EVDebs]

178. So, now that the NYTimes tells the world the Taliban is sitting on a gold mine you expect them

So, now that the NYTimes tells the world the Taliban is sitting on a gold mine, you expect them to just let the US troops STAY ?

[defendandprotect]

180. "Nice piece of real estate" ... which JFK discovered as he began to look into MIC

interest in Vietnam . . .

[skeptical cynic]

185. Now we won't have to invade Bolivia to take THEIR lithium.

Now, if we can only forget that Venezuela has oil, we can cancel the "War on Drugs" and pull out of Columbia.

[KonaKane]

188. Not good. I see a permanent presence in Afghanistan now

if historical precedent for capitalist armies holds true. This is a tragedy for Afghanistan.

[kenfrequed]

191. Riiight.

You just suddenly "discover" a trillion dollars of minerals in Afghanistan. All at once? And all different sorts of minerals?

I do not believe it.

[Canuckistanian]

196. Wow, what a coincidence

The world's biggest mining superpower, US is right there in Afghanistan! And they already HAVE permission to be in the country, so exploration permissions aren't needed!

Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

[DebbieCDC]

198. Well that does it. We'll be there forever now.

[TheCowsCameHome]

205. ....+ 1 day. May as well apply for statehood.

[Dr Morbius]

201. Finding those rich veins of mineral deposits is one thing.

Mining them and getting them out of Afghanistan is an entirely different matter. I bet an investment of tens of billions, and maybe more, is necessary before anyone sees any revenue from these trillion-dollar mother-lodes. Which may be why it's in the news again.

[cbdo2007]

209. and I bet Halliburton has just the tools and experience needed to do the mining....

just wait...I'm sure this is coming down the pike.

[mmonk]

210. Yes, it's not just a pipeline war anymore.

And any ideas about us leaving, you need to put them aside. The work of imperialism is never done.

[pmorlan1]

211. How Sad for the Afghanistan people

Looks like the U.S. will be in Afghanistan a long time (at least long enough to steal all of the mineral wealth they just found). I hate to say this, but sadly it's true.

[Blue Meany]

212. The Curse of Mineral Deposits?

For some time I have come to think that oil deposits are a curse for a country that usually lead to authoritarian government. This occurs either because outsiders want the oil and prop up a dictator who will let them have it, or because oil provides revenue to allow the govt. to become a "rentier" state that does not depend on the population for support. I hope that Afghanistan's riches will not be a similar curse.

[jwirr]

213. I assume we can kiss the idea of ending this war for another hundred years. nt

[babsbunny]

215. Is it ours?

:shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:

[H2O Man]

216. Yes.

Terrorable-ists hid our mineral wealth under the undemocratic mountains there. We are right to take it back by legal, democratic means.

[patrice]

217. Could be an opportunity to showcase the development & deployment of green mining

technologies and practices, instead of the status quo rape, pillage, and plunder.

[laylah]

219. Well, we're there for awhile,

under whatever "cover" our government so chooses. Damn, I am so tired of this shit.