Afghanistan's 'game-changer'

[TomCADem]

Source: Al Jazeera

"The quality of the ore is excellent, and the richest varieties are to be found," a surveyor wrote in a report on Afghanistan’s untapped natural resources.

The surveyor was one Captain Drummond, a British officer in the 3rd Light Cavalry. The year? 1841.

169 years later, the New York Times reported that Afghanistan could have nearly $1 trillion in copper, iron and other minerals. The US defence department called those reserves a "game-changer" for the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Despite centuries of attention, though, Afghanistan’s natural resources have proved difficult to extract. It’s not for lack of trying: The British empire took an interest in them; so did the Soviet Union, which conducted numerous geological surveys in the 1970s.


Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/06/201061594440469863.html

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Interesting angle from the local area press. The NY Times story portrayed the discovery of mineral wealth as a big scoop, since most folks think that Afganistan's only two exports are opium and terrorism. Al Jazeera's angle is like so what? Everyone has always known that there are mineral resources in Afganistan. It is just a problem getting the infrastructure up to mine them.

[tomm2thumbs]

1. we're on our way!