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So that's what Bush was after. And I thought he was dumb. Silly me.
This is priceless...ha ha ha.
How do you suppose Bush knew those deposits were there since they were only just recently discovered?
Actually some Ruskie girls found it back when the Soviet was in Afghanistan. The U.S. and Afghan government have been aware of the discovery for quite some time. It was only recently that WE sent in some geologists to confirm the Russian findings.
Why on earth are all these deposits and minerals and natural resources sit underneath places with such oppressive regimes or militants?
I'm no expert, but China and the US, among other countries, fighting for this land and their resources could lead to WW3.
What do you all think? It's going to turn into a battle of who really does/will control this land and all it offers.
When it's put into that perspective, seems like a bunch of larger countries are standing around slicing up the pie that is Afghanistan.
echo & mod, why don't you just delete all of conhog and fellow trolls posts in this thread and leave the on topic ones?
with that said, this is going to turn out bad and lead to decades of corruption. the taliban and other militant groups will control actual access to the resources, enslave locals to gather it, and then sell it to multinational companies who will turn a blind eye to whats happening as long as they get their profit. it will be the next blood diamonds
Here's EXACTLY what Obama will do.
He will invest hundreds of millions of American dollars into building the infrastructure necessary to extract said minerals, then he will summarily turn it over to the Afghans without so much as a plan for us to be repaid what is owed us.
Well SOMEBODY will reap the profits.
But the Afghanistani people?
That's even less likely that the possibility that the USA people will harvest the bounty.
Here's EXACTLY what Obama will do.
He will invest hundreds of millions of American dollars into building the infrastructure necessary to extract said minerals, then he will summarily turn it over to the Afghans without so much as a plan for us to be repaid what is owed us.
U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com
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.
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 Afghanistans 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. Afghanistans gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.
This. Changes. Everything.
We didn't see any of the Iraqi oil and we're not going to see any of these Afghani minerals.
Oh yes....it's absolutely horrible that another 3rd world country could, with the right leadership in place, become a productive member of the world community in 20 or so years...terrible I say...terrible!!!! You equating Afghanistan's new found wealth to the Congo situation is COMPLETELY without merit and baseless.
Has anyone ever tallied how much the Germans and Japanese owe us for WWII? With Interest it has to be in the millions!
Oh yes....it's absolutely horrible that another 3rd world country could, with the right leadership in place, become a productive member of the world community in 20 or so years...terrible I say...terrible!!!! You equating Afghanistan's new found wealth to the Congo situation is COMPLETELY without merit and baseless.
Whoa dude... Easy there. "With the right leadership in place," you mean YOUR leadership? I mean, we are talking about the same country right? "With the right leadership in place" is a PRETTY BIG IF, don't you think? All I'm saying is that before you people wet your panties at the though of giant strip mines all over Afghanistan you could take a look at the countless of cases in which the "resource curse" has been terrible for countries without the capacity to take advantage of it for themselves and incapable of defending these resources internally or externally.
So that's what Bush was after. And I thought he was dumb. Silly me.
We didn't see any of the Iraqi oil and we're not going to see any of these Afghani minerals.
Why on earth are all these deposits and minerals and natural resources sit underneath places with such oppressive regimes or militants?
Because they're too busy trying to cover their own ass instead of exploring the land?
Oh yes....it's absolutely horrible that another 3rd world country could, with the right leadership in place, become a productive member of the world community in 20 or so years...terrible I say...terrible!!!! You equating Afghanistan's new found wealth to the Congo situation is COMPLETELY without merit and baseless.
Whoa dude... Easy there. "With the right leadership in place," you mean YOUR leadership? I mean, we are talking about the same country right? "With the right leadership in place" is a PRETTY BIG IF, don't you think? All I'm saying is that before you people wet your panties at the though of giant strip mines all over Afghanistan you could take a look at the countless of cases in which the "resource curse" has been terrible for countries without the capacity to take advantage of it for themselves and incapable of defending these resources internally or externally.
What did I say...."the right leadership"...I didn't assign any nationality to it...wake the fuck up! It's their country....let them decide what to do with their wealth.
