The New York Times reported the $1 trillion figure in Monday's edition and quoted senior American officials as saying untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan are far beyond any previously known reserves and were enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.
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.
"There is stunning potential here," the newspaper quoted Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command as saying. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
Guess we are going to be in Afghanistan for a long long time.
Question: What happens if a goat-herding society simply choses to not want to exploit or allow exploitation of the resources. Hint : Think American Indians - They were not all that much into exploitation of the resources of the Americas. Do you think that the European powers would have stood for that?? Did they stand for that?
Will they [and the US] stand for that now or will this become a struggle for the resources regardless of the desires of the Afghani people.
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