Maybe it’s just my sour nature and dim view of humanity, but I fail to see why the discovery of trillions of dollars of minerals in Afghanistan is Good News for America®. Is it because mining companies will stuff more cash in Karzai’s pockets, so he can continue with the good works and generosity that have characterized his benevolent rule? Or is it because the Taliban will give up the fight now that the land they hold is full of precious metal?
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Xboxershorts
Dontcha know, they hate us for our freedoms…..
Hunter Gathers
Because it gives us a good reason to stay forever. And perpetual war is what Real America® wants.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
The Afghanis are completely fucked now. They’re in the position of a hooker who picks something up and says “hey – a thousand dollar bill!” while her pimp is watching her.
US business are going to take as much as they can, and US soldiers are going to kill for them to do so.
droog
A bit disturbing to hear all the military men weighing on the matter as if they were accustomed to preside over civil industry, or something. Maybe the press should be asking somebody else?
MMM
Discovery?
The discovery is the reason we were so interested to begin with
Maude
It means an income for Afghanistan. We can let the Afghan government fight over the resources with the Taliban.
It also helps to cut down the reliance on poppies.
David
Now there will be some sort of payoff for dropping 500 lb depleted uranium-tipped bombs on weddings besides just spreading freedom.
Starfish
And from naked capitalism that some of you hate so well, “Update 2:00 AM: Some alert readers have pointed out that news of the big mineral find was reported in China in February (hat tip JoJo) and copper mining has been underway since 2007. Given the flurry of not so hot press a couple of days ago on the progress of the war in Afghanistan, is the New York Times being used as a mouthpiece to push a justification as to why we are there (and a superfically plausible rationale as to why we might be able to get the population on our side)?”
SRW1
The interesting thing is that the Soviets already knew about these raw material deposits and concluded that the price was too high anyway. Maybe they didn’t properly understand the strategic value of raw materials for electronic consumer goods though.
wengler
In fairness though, we finally have an explanation for what we are still doing in Afghanistan after 9 years.
It’s going to be tough getting our precious minerals out to the world market though. We definitely need to burn a path through Pakistan out to the ocean, and destabilize Central Asia so the Russians don’t get in on the action. Oh…Kyrgyzstan is in flames? What a shame.
cleek
DEATH TO THE INFI…. Ohhh…shiny!
Zandar
So instead of fighting over shit above ground for nine years, we can fight over shit below ground for the next nine. That’s important because most of the shit above ground has been bombed, burned, shot, bombed again, torched for good measure and run over by Strikers.
“You can take our Blackberry batteries, but you can never take OUR FREED…wait, we need those. Shoot them.”
fucen tarmal
srw, in double dog fairness to the soviets, the relevance of some of the materials has grown quite a bit since the 80s.
now i realize this may be a bit out of tune with the theme of u.s. militarism run amok, which in general i do assent with…
but the importance of the “find” is double in that, absent this, it was thought, these minerals and the large amount of them concentrated in chinese ore deposits, meant going through china one way or another, for the stuff we like and need circa 21st century.
so there is the broadening of the available sources which at least puts china on notice…
as far as afghan, well this would be profoundly coming out of the stone ages? i’m not saying i approve of free-for-all exploitation or on the other hand, bending over for the next hundred years of karzai the way we have for the bush-laden family.
roshan
Serendipity in time of war. A good excuse to fuck up any place on earth.
SGEW
Afghanistan really can’t catch a fucking break, can it?
[ETA]
Now where did I read about something similar recently? Oh yeah . . .
c u n d gulag
This just means we’ll have more kids dying over there – for an even longer period of time.
Whatever the BS reasons we’re there now, in the future, it’ll be to protect the precious rights of American businesses to rape and take natural resources wherever we find them.
I call it “Manifest Gluttony.”
moe
found? doesn’t it beg the question, “why are they looking?”
didn’t realize your typical soldier could distinguish one mineral from the other…
Ana Gama
Remember a couple months back when Obama made an unannounced visit to Karzai on a Sunday morning, and they ended up having a bit of a tiff? I wonder what that was really about…..
PeakVT
So, does this mean the Afghanistan war will pay for itself?
4tehlulz
BIG Li DID WTC
Skepticat
@c u n d gulag: What an absolutely perfect term (and perfectly awful concept).
New Yorker
Ah yes, Afghanistan will have all its problems solved because it’ sitting on a mineral bonanza. Just look at how great things are in the Congo, another country blessed with tremendous mineral wealth.
ScottRock
Money quote:
All irony is lost on these people.
Can’t say i’m terribly surprised, though–within the past few years, the USGS has started ramping up its assessment of Afghanistan’s mineral resources. These programs were run hand-in-hand with the military, and i think it’s spot-on to read this as an attempt to make Afghanistan an expenses-paid colonial excursion.
Brandon
@Phoenician in a time of Romans: Actually, there are very few “US” mining concerns. The gross part about this is the prospect of the USA fighting perpetual war for non-US businesses. While fighting and dying for US capitalists us just sick, doing it for foreigners is gross. Expect to see Canada redeploy their troops to the theatre any day now, the French decide that this is a war worth fighting after all and I wouldn’t even be surprised to see the Japanese get involved. And most bizarrely of all, Russia may get in the mix too.
The only hope that this could turn out for the Afghani’s is if they join EITI toot sweet and create a national trust fund similar to what Norway has done for oil. But who are we fooling?
Karzai is probably super happy now because as the “Mayor of Kabul”, he’s relevent again and potentially eligible for a big payday selling off the concessions.
DPirate
You’ve got this backwards. It is because of your justified dim view of humanity that this is good news for America. You know why we have wars and stuff, right?
Either stop blogging or call a spade a spade. Quit pussy-footing around.
EDIT: Hell, if you are just going to ask questions like some ditsy little girl, get off the computer and go to the library or something. You got something to say or don’t you?
inthewoods
I don’t know about all of you, but I fully expect this to pay for our military operations there, and to provide an alternative to the drug trade/heroin operations there as I’m sure it will!
And…..scene….thank you.
ScottRock
Put in the context of China’s growing dominance of the mineral field, this is frankly terrifying.
91% of our supply of “rare-earth minerals” (heavy metals, REEs) is controlled by China. Over the past few months people from Defense to Toyota have been freaking out about China’s supply, especially now that China announced its intent to essentially nationalize the REE mining industry. The parallels with Iraq and oil are stark. It’s like freaking Civ 4.
Shorter NYT: We are never going to leave Afghanistan.
liberal
@Starfish:
Who hates NC here? The O-bots?
NC has been the best blog around for matters related to the Crash.
Chad N Freude
I’m sorry, that cliché is already taken.
Chad N Freude
@inthewoods:
Yes, all the small peasant poppy growers will become small peasant lithium miners.
Chad N Freude
Read the entire NYT article.
. . .
So eventually we’ll be fighting China in Afghanistan.
Mr Furious
@DPirate: WTF, dude?
Is this (or any blog) supposed to be an encyclopedia or definitive opinion piece at all times? Or is the blogger allowed to kick off what is already shaping up to be a good discussion.
Here’s an idea: Take a fucking pill or quit reading blogs, dick.
Joe Buck
Arbinder says this is old news, perhaps trotted out as a Pentagon propaganda operation:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/10/06/the-mineral-miracle-or-a-massive-information-operation/58104
h/t Atrios.
John Bird
As Africa demonstrates, huge finds of minerals in developing countries is a surefire fix for corruption and dictatorship.
It’s totally different from oil because oil is all runny and minerals will stand up straight when placed on the back of a starving child.