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Afghans Beware! US Military Touts Mineral Reserves in Afghanistan
Report: US Finds Mineral Riches in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - A team of U.S. geologists and Pentagon officials has discovered vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan, conceivably enough to turn the scarred and impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centers, The New York Times reports.
NATO soldiers visit a coal mining camp, in Herat, Afghanistan. (Photo: EPA) "There is stunning potential here," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in a report published Monday. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
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.
During a visit last month to Washington, Afghan President Hamid 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 U.S. Geological Survey 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.
Waheed Omar, Karzai's spokesman, said at a news conference Monday that the USGS was "contracted by the Afghan government to do a survey, so this is basically an Afghan government initiative."
"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," he 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.
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.
"Bolivia wants to expand its lithium mining operations dramatically over the next few years so there is a risk of oversupply if demand from electric cars does not meet expectations," Kernot said.
Ghazni Province, where the lithium deposits are reported to be, is a dangerous place, home to many Taliban.
- Posted in
82 Comments so far
Show AllWhen it comes to money making projects, all areas deemed profitable will get a little "shock & awe" to clear out any pesky natives.
Our hero mercenaries will bring freedom for conglomerate interests.
Anybody who believes that the US hasn't known about these resources for many years please step right up and buy some of my oceanfront property in Phoenix, Arizona.
Exactly, ray. Surprise surprise. They really take us for a bunch of credulous fools.
But, hey, they're right!
The choice is clear. We can fight for our lithium or we can surrender and let the Taliban have it. Well, it's clear as mud anyway. Still, today more interests will want to see us remain in Afghanistan. I now doubt that we'll ever leave.
Ironically, it'd probably cost less overall (in money, not to mention lives) to buy it from the Taliban than to pay the perpetual war costs and then buy it from Karzai ...
Aha!
Joe
On April 17, 1492, Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand granted Christopher Columbus the privileges of 'discovery and conquest.' One year later, on May 4, 1493, Pope Alexander VI, through his 'Bull of Donation,' granted all islands and mainlands 'discovered and to be discovered, one hundred leagues to the West and South of the Azores towards India,' and not already occupied or held by any christian king or prince as of Christmas of 1492, to the Catholic monarchs Isabel of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon.
Charters and patents thus turned acts of piracy into divine will. The peoples and nations that were colonized did not belong to the pope who 'donated' them, yet this canonical jurisprudence made the christian monarchs of Europe rulers of all nations, 'wherever they might be found and whatever creed they might embrace.' The principle of 'effective occupation' by christian princes, the 'vacancy' of the targeted lands, and the 'duty' to incorporate the 'savages' were components of charters and patents.
The Papal Bull, the Columbus charter, and patents granted by European monarchs laid the juridical and moral foundations for the colonization and extermination of non-European peoples. The Native American population declined from 72 million in 1492 to less than 4 million a few centuries later.
Five hundred years after Columbus, a more secular version of the same project of colonization continues through patents and intellectual property rights (IPRs). The Papal Bull has been replaced by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) treaty. The principle of effective occupation by christian princes has been replaced by effective occupation by the transnational corporations supported by modern-day rulers. The duty to incorporate savages into Christianity has been replaced by the duty to incorporate local and national economies into the global marketplace, and to incorporate non-Western systems of knowledge into the reductionism of commercialized Western science and technology.
We see the parallels today between the actions and attitudes of the pope and European rulers during colonial times, and the actions and attitudes of 21st century powers like the World Trade Organization and multinational corporations. The United States, whose section 301 of the unilaterally-decided U.S. Trade Act gives the federal government the power to take unilateral action against any country that does not open its markets to U.S. corporations.
The examples of Western rape, pillage and plunder of the "Third World" (racist label by Western overdeveloped "First Worlders") where loss in revenue, livelihood, dignity, and biodiversity are seen, are too numerous to list here. Of course the purpose in all of this is to enrich the coffers of European and American corporations.
The bloody machinations of capitalism at work.
My thoughts exactly, mcoyote.
great post, thanks
also, the cynicism and insight, wit and irony here is a godsend.
thank you, MCOYOTE, for your post.
The USA has rare earth deposits but must send ores to China for processing because no one is willing to invest in a rare earth processing facility within the USA.
This non news, China is already removing a mountain of copper outside of Kabul, is not good news for Afghans.
It means more degradation,which accompanies international mining conglomerates, for their nation, environmentally, politically, economically and morally.
History has shown over and over that extractive economies rarely benefit the people of that land. They create a tiny oligarchy which is bribed and easily controlled by foreign financial interests.
Think...Nigeria, Bolivia, Congo, Saudi Arabia, etc...
For an eye-opening account of how it works see "King Leopold's Ghost."
There was an article from the French press about Afghan mineral deposits a few months ago. But what a coincidence, that the Pentagon has located the minerals while if the occupation succeeds it will be private corporations that reap the profits through a bloody taxpayer subsidy.
It cost $Trillions to open Iraq to Big Oil. And non other than BP has a fat contract in Iraq paid for with American lives and many more Iraqi lives.
Afghanistan also has proven reserves of natural gas (which the Russians once exported) and estimated oil reserves as well as being the only pipeline route available to western energy corporations that want to exploit the even larger energy reserves of Central Asia to be marketed in Asia and not for our domestic consumption.
What a fantastic lie...that controlling the energy reserves of the Middle East and Central Asia (the Neocon plan endorsed by Obomber) has something to do with "national security" when it is about global hegemony of those resources for private corporate profit. Our grandchildren will be paying for these war debts. Public debt for private profit.
We are not in Afghanistan to find Bin Laden or save the women.
We're there to bring them freedom, so much freedom it'll make them as sick as the birds in the Gulf of Mexico.
Well put. After all, why the hell else would we be in such a godforsaken place to begin with? Bloody taxpayer subsidies indeed, for multinational corporations whose only loyalty is to the godalmighty dollar? And after all the minerals are extracted the Afghans will be left to stew in an utterly toxic wasteland.
Yes, just last year the USGS confirmed even more enormous gas reserves in Afghanistan. And with the minerals!!!
Now, we know for sure why it is that Ossama bin Laden cannot be found: the U.S. Geological Survey needed time to find and identify what the U.S. is really in Afghanistan for, its mineral resources.
And these creeps still have the audacity to use this hackneyed justification for the imperialist plundering of other nations' resources:
"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," he said. "This is an economic interest that will benefit all Afghans and will benefit Afghanistan in the long run."
See the article titled "Afghan 'Geological Reserves Worth a Trillion Dollars'" (from the Agence France-Presse) and published at Common Dreams on 2/1/2010. In it, it is reported that the U.S. spent at least 17 million dollars on this years-long survey of Afghanistan's geological riches.
"The USA has rare earth deposits but must send ores to China for processing because no one is willing to invest in a rare earth processing facility within the USA."
I am not sure about processing rare earth elements, but many toxic industrial processes are done in China because few countries want the toxic byproducts.
In China, most of their industrial waste is simply dumped without treatment or controls of any kind. And once processed, the rare elements can be used in their manufacturing facilities which operate without any meaningful environmental regulation and are often powered with cheap and dirty coal-fired electricity.
And more than a few American corporations and other global investors take advantage of this situation.
If you have a choice, do not buy Chinese goods. We also need to bring home American jobs.
How convenient...
By the by, China not only processes most of the critically needed rare earth metals demanded by today's high tech toys, it possesses the largest reserves of many of them, and had recently decided to keep the lion's share for domestic use, causing to end of alarm and consternation to the US and the rest of the West, especially the US Armed Forces, which is over dependent on high tech gadgets like night sights and personal GPS for every trooper.
I think that everyone with at least half a brain understands that with peak oil and global warming, nothing is more important than lithium for future energy storage. It is definitely easier now for liberals to avoid a too strong voice against the Afghan war.
Hmm. Sounds like the planet Pandora. It would seem the movies concept was not far off from reality on this ball of crazies wanting and taking resources. And of course the military will be involved either directly or indirectly.
Yep. We'll be needing Pashtun avatars.
This discovery of minerals has the potential to turn an already war-torn Afghanistan into a plunder free-for-all that makes Congo look like a tea party.
Yes. And remember that Anaconda is not only a deadly snake but also a ruthless international mining giant.
One huge problem remains namely that Afghanistan does not have a seaport.
--"One huge problem remains namely that Afghanistan does not have a seaport."
Enter Pakistan and the port in Gwadar (Baluchistan). You wonder why we are so deeply entwined with Pakistan !! They are useful in so many ways. The Pakistani Generals know this and will do everything to accommodate the U.S. Afghanistan is doomed. They cannot fight the U.S.-Pakistan nexus.
vampires everywhere and no good sharp stakes!
what the hell is the pentagon doing mapping minerals in afganistan when their ONLY job is to defeat terrorists - you know the ones we let go in the first few months of this endless war......
these criminals are becoming more and more blatant about their real objective - from bailouts for billionaires to oil gushing to corporate control of the supreme court to commando raids on unarmed relief convoys......
all the way up to the fascist lying bastards in the white house masquarading as "liberals".........
"the futures here - we are it and we are on our own" r hunter
--"what the hell is the pentagon doing mapping minerals in afganistan when their ONLY job is to defeat terrorists "
Thanks for pointing this out mtdon. It was the first thought that came to my mind. How easily all the pieces fall into place.
Perhaps not firmly predictable but certainly no great surprise for geologists. Now watch how Afghanistan will be turned into one gigantic mining pit by outsiders.
Nobody will care that this is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions on Warfare.
>>"There is stunning potential here," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in a report published Monday. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant... The Times quoted a Pentagon memo as saying Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium."<<
Why is a general of the U.S. military talking about business potential in another country? Is there any dolt left in this degenerate country of ours that believes we don't spend trillions (bankrolled with public funds) killing and maiming to enhance the interests of oligarchs? I would have said to enhance 'our ENTIRE nation's standard of living' but only a minority of Americans have not fallen behind since the 70's.
"Why is a general of the U.S. military talking about business potential in another country?"
Because the USA is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the Corporations. The US Military is just another subsidiary. Anyone who sits in the chair in the White House is just the Public Relations manager.
INDEED SO. The ex-attorney general Smedley Butler opined, quite correctly:
"War is a racket"
Demons MUST be invented to perpetuate the cover story, the PACKAGING, so the looting can continue. Of course, the old song-and-dance, bread-and-circuses routine is beginning to age. They have to update their approach. I can recommend a good PR firm.
What I am thinking nowadays, when people speak of the Americans being "owned by corporations -- war mongers, capitalists, etc".........
is WHAT IS THE ROLE of the individual americans themselves in their hundreds of millions over the generations that allowed such a condition to be what it is?
if there EVER was a time , no matter how short , that americans were supposedly 'free to choose'....regardless of what they were told....WHAT DID AMERICANS CHOOSE - so that things of their choices LED to them being "owned, lock stock and barrel by corporations and the war culture?"
or did not americans themselves over the generations - privately or openly AGREE with the very things that were incrementally LEADING to the state of fascist "corporate , war culture?"
something can be said about "the system" that "leads people into" behaving a certain way so that they are "led" -- such as Americans being "owned and misled by capitalism and the war culture and ideology of global supremacy as ours by right"....
but also, something can be said about the "PEOPLE" , who in their individual ways, community ways, family ways, heritage ways, conceptual ways, expectation ways, ways of justifications -- as being the ATOMS out of which the "system" is made.
in other words:
if one were to devise a differentiation between the "two instincts" as Albert Einstein would say:
"capitalism encourages and strengthens the SELFISH instinct at the expense of the ALTRUISTIC instinct"....
of these TWO _ WHICH INSTINCT HAVE AMERICANS personally CHOSEN to strengthen in themselves - so that their CHOICES eventually , incrementally, generation by generation, LEAD to the "triumph" of capitalism "over them"....where it really is, perhaps, just a REFLECTION of their inner choices written large in their politics and economics?....and therefore not really a "conquest of americans BY capitalism and its dogma of selfishness over altruism and socialism"...
BUT a manifestation of what americans, in general and at large , ACTUALLY CHOSE?
after all....something such as the BP disaster - through a BRITISH company that happened on "american shores and waters"....is fundamentally NO DIFFERENT from EXXON valdez disaster near alaska, or Chevron. etc....in their disasters in south america, africa, india...etc...
SO - WHY are americans SUDDENLY all agog about the "disaster" because it is closer to home , even if THEIR OWN companies, aided and abetted by their own ARMY globally - CLEARLY can not be so "hidden" from american eyes and ears , if for no other reason than that the BP and ALASKA and OTHER "near america" disasters have proven over time that such things ARE harmful?.
in other words - WHY HAVE AMERICANS NOT PRODUCED a national "conscience and consciousness and questioning of our way of life" or even just the :"culprit" (BP) - when such things FROMAMERICAN COMPANIES are so clearly doing and committing the SAME diastrous work abroad, long before the BP Disaster came around?
the ONLY answer - in my mind is:
that given by an american poet (to the great credit and honor of america for producing such individuals):
"WE AMERICANS -- carefully nurture and attitude of detached indifference to the suffering of others ...EVEN IF WE ARE THE CAUSE OF IT".
for that reason - imo - american populace is AT LEAST AS RESPONSIBLE for what their own companies and leaders DO that are harmful - not just to americans but the rest of the world...because americans have held the world "WITHIN OUR EMBRACE"
ONLY if the exploitative nature of their own 'american way' -- capitalism, corporatism, war, etc. --- is "Successful" and "brings prosperity".........
BUT holds the world AT BEYOND "arm's length"
if such things TURN OUT to be DISASTERS and are "not worth it".
Teddy excellent post. One small piece of the puzzle is tha sometimes USAans do choose the high road but their aims are rustrated by the devious oilarchy.
Case in point many compassionate even intelligent ( thoughonly a large dose of MSM can make it so) USAans still think Obomber is attemptiing to do good.
unfortunately , Glen Ford , on a daily basis, i am seeing more and more evidence that it is NOT merely about being "propagandized" -- but that it is AMERICANS themselves who ALLOW themselves to BE propagandised.
to prove it , as a personal view:
at work - i sometimes discuss these things - based on "the news" of mainstream media - when someone at work comments, like most do :
"oh that war, oh this BP disaster, oh...this , that,"
and then I detail to them as clearly as possible in EASILY understood terms just how CONNECTED things are :
corporatism, the car culture, shopping, wall-street, their own love of "low taxes becuase I don't want someone else to steal MY money", blah, blah, --
and their response is ALWAYS - after a brief exchange of "buts...." coming from THEM , and a few protests about "this is STILL the greatest country on earth".........
just SILENCE because they KNOW that what I said - from the history of their own country since columbus to afghanistan, from the "gold rush" to BP Oil and "minerals" ...are all TRUE and that it ASSAULTS any human conscience including theirs
and YET THEY HAVE not only supported these things but DEFEND THEM as part of "being americans".
and then they make excuses that "i gotta do something"...
with eyes wary and fairly dripping with "patriotism" that at the DROP of a hat would easily turn to be exactly the kind of folks that we "see in movies" about "bad regimes" ....
willing accomplices posing as citizens - for a fascist state...that would turn you in , if you stepped "farther out of line".
that's the way i see americans now.
another way of putting it is:
IF the claims and beliefs of americans about the "greatness of being american" or "the greatness of america" is as true as they say and claim --
then americans THEMSELVES have proven, time and again that it is THEY that are UNWORTHY of "being americans" according to those high claims. if anything - THEIR citizenship should be stripped from them by a "higher power" if there was some Alien super race.
I have come to love this country and the people in it, mainly for the individuals that I have met that I have admired or known about -- and I feel as deeply as any "native born" american might in that love and "patriotism" - even if I consider such things as merely human inventions that are irrelevant in the long scheme of things and existence (it is no more important or useful than a bacteria is "patriotic" as an american) .
but it is also , like that american author , BALDWIN or something ?
that said "i love america so much that i MUST criticise her".
because in many ways, to criticise america is to criticise the wrong and bad and cruel things in this world EVERYWHERE but which america has become the SYMBOL of its greatest repository of cruelties .
therefore - to me - to criticise america , so that she can become better - is to criticise the world so that it can become better for all of us.
there is no week that I don't CRY about the state of things about the world and about america and america's being the root cause of much of the ills of the world....especially because it DOESN'T have to be like that. there are too many GOOD americans for that to happen, just as there are too many good people in the world for that to happen.
Eureka!
Well, mountain top removal works so good over here, why not over there?
As an indicator of whether Americans will unify to defend the Afghanis, there was a park improved here, and immediately there has been a blizzard of letters to the editor saying there needs to be war memorials or plaques made a part of the park. Like we don't already have those on every corner.
If freedom isn't free, then it's not freedom.
Ever wonder why the Sovs were so keen on the area and why we were so keen to help stop them there? They (and we) have known about this stuff since the 70s.
The Taliban's real crime was that they weren't particualrly concerned with industrial development and weren't easily bought off.
So true!!!
Maybe all this lithium will be enough to treat the USA's collective insanity?
Nah. It will just go towards making more iCrap to sedate the masses.
"Soma... Soma... Soma..." - droned by a worker in Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World'.
The Afghans can now commit voluntary suicide. This is the worst possible thing that could happen to the Afghan people.
Well, we're never getting out of there now. Your great grandchildren will still be fighting the Taliban and their allies.
U.S. Foreign Policy = What's ours is ours.
What's yours is ours, too.
If we can see it, it is ours.
Even if we can't see it, it's ours.
You can have our depleted uranium trash.
All other nations are too stupid to have their own sovereignty.
Now hand it over or we will bomb the crap out of ya.
Oh! We're all ready doing that.
We'll send more bombs to dig those mines.
Okie dokie?
Kissy Kissy from the Land of Liberty.
And so the fundamental foreign policy of the US Empire known as The Open Door continues. That policy assumes the US Empire has the right--indeed, the obligation--to develop and extract whatever resources are present within a country regardless of what the country being invaded has to say in the matter. And you can be sure this report is already in the hands of Taliban leaders and will be used to correctly point out why NATO is there trying to conquer the country and kill off Afghans and to tie in the historical legacy of most NATO countries to why they are in Afghanistan.
And some people wonder why the US Empire can't control the Zionists--the Zionists aren't doing anything different from what the US Empire is doing--stealing resources while killing the peoples who resist having their resources stolen.
Reminds me of Ike's memo to FDR in the last year of WW II:
"Mr. President.
We have just discovered large reserves of stuff here in Europe.
Please advise."
DDE,
CinC, ETofO
Note the source - a small team of Pentagon scientists - this is probably another set of lies to give another reason why our troops need to stay there.
I believe "lies" is unlikely. Exaggeration or over-estimation is certainly possible.
The Russians were doin the geo surveys and the British too, way back when....
I thought Avatar was a movie.
Well now that the cat or pot of gold is out of the bag, there is a lot to put on the table and the Taliban are not goin anywhere.
I think Obama and Betray-us have got a fantasy Disney victory parade planned for Kandahar where American fair play and attraction to rare minerals will snap the world out of its coma.
Let the killing end at the party in Kandahar.
March ON..... Boom bomb boom Bummmm
Keep in mind that the US military portion of empire is intended to preserve not only the international capitalist system but U.S. hegemony of that system.
Important point here made by Michael Parenti. The fact of the minerals existing, the amount that there may or may not be and the costs of the whole bloody endeavor are secondary to the fact that the multinational corporations will profit from the mere possibility no matter the reality.
=====================
"To be sure, empires do not come cheap. Burdensome expenditures are needed for military repression and prolonged
occupation, for colonial administration, for bribes and arms to native collaborators, and for the development of a commercial infrastructure to facilitate extractive industries and capital penetration. But empires are not losing propositions for everyone. The governments of imperial nations may spend more than they take in, but the people who reap the benefits are not the same ones who foot the bill. As Thorstein Veblen pointed out in The Theory of the Business Enterprise (1904), the gains of empire flow into the hands of the privileged business class while the costs are extracted from "the industry of the rest of the people." The transnationals monopolize the private returns of empire while carrying little, if any, of the public cost. The expenditures needed in the way of armaments and aid to make the world safe for General Motors, General Dynamics, General Electric, and all the other generals are paid by the U.S. government, that is, by the taxpayers."
- Michael Parenti, "Against Empire"
From,
"Chapter 3: Intervention: Whose gain? Whose pain?"
Yeah, good points!
Hot off the wire, from the news and public relations wing of the Pentagon:
Message to the American People from General Petraeus, June 14th 2010:
My Dear Fellow Americans,
Some of you are wondering why an American general is talking about the recently discovered mineral wealth of Afghanistan, and I thought that it is my patriotic duty to address that concern of yours.
As you know, our troops have been looking for Ossama bin Laden for a good nine years now, and in our protracted search in all four corners of Afghanistan, we kept coming across - 'stumbling', I suppose, is the better word - minerals, as if the Good Lord in His providential wisdon had wanted Americans to find these wonderful riches. After several years of such happy finds, we got in touch with the U.S. Geological Survey, asking it to verify and confirm our discoveries. So it did, and here we are with the good news for the Afghan people and the U.S. companies that will be helping the Afghan people enjoy the riches of their land.
I suppose that the Good Lord wanted us not to find Ossama before we found all the minerals. Never ceases to amaze me how the Lord's mind works!
All right, my fellow Americans, I am now returning to my endless search for Ossama bin Laden.
God Bless America,
General Petraeus