Afghan Minerals – A blessing or a Curse?
By – Faiz Ahmed
Oakland University
A recent article on the Department of Defense website has created quite a stir. The article brings to light the fact that the U.S. Geologists have uncovered large deposits of mineral resources in the mountains of Afghanistan. The minerals are worth over a trillion dollars.
The report mentions that the resource evaluation of the country’s land began a year ago. It has also been mentioned that the research records of the Erstwhile Soviet Union were used as a foundation basis for this research.
Paul Brinkley, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and Director of Task Force Business and Stability Operations, in a phone conversation available on the Department of Defense website said:“We’ve identified 20 sites that are worth a lot of money that will generate enough revenue for the Afghans to pay for their own way, you can count on private industry to make investments to help develop these resources because they generate a high return for the companies and done appropriately generate a great return for the country involved.”
Brinkley means to say that the resources of the people of Afghanistan will be made available to U.S. companies to ship away in return for a pittance to the war torn nation that is divided by tribal feuds.
We must remember that the country has no centralized system of government, and the government they have, has hardly any influence outside of Kabul city.
Surely the corporations will not be mining for public service, they will be mining for profit maximization. If the foreign companies start mining for resources, it will be poor Afghans working in the mines.
The country’s government is in shambles, knowing this, will the companies spend money on upholding work safety standards as opposed to profit maximization? Will these foreign companies uphold human rights and dignity when the US army didn’t do so in Iraq? Will they uphold international environment safety standards and regulations? Will there be a percentage partnership between Afghan businessmen and American companies?
Is America’s original agenda of finding Bin Laden and destroying Al-Qaeda going to be overshadowed by corporate greed? Do the officials and the administration believe that bin Laden is hiding in the gold mines?
Is this why the US army generals kept asking for more troops? Did the current administration already know of the resources in the land? Did the previous administration know of this? The soviet geologists were doing the same research before they were ousted, it was their reports that became the basis for the American activities. How much did the soviets know of this?
Why was this news released at a time when the war was in one of the most chaotic stages since the start and when people in America were growing disheartened by the war? Was this information a final bullet in the pro war propagandist’s pistol, to try to bank on the desperate greed of a nation in a severe financial crisis? Is this an effort to ensure corporate lobbyists pressurizing the government to continue a failing war?
We must also remember, in the early stages of the Iraq occupation, the oil that was being mined by American companies was not even metered, it was unaccounted for. Has this started in Afghanistan already in respect to its most valuable resources? How much of the minerals have already been mined and shipped away?
Often times, whenever resources have been found in underdeveloped countries there has been violence and bloodshed. The bloodshed is continuing already but will it intensify? The Afghan Taliban till now have been fighting to regain control of the country which had hardly any known minerals. Will they now not be emboldened to fight even more?
Will Afghanistan’s gold become blood gold just like how Africa’s diamonds became blood diamonds ?
Many questions are raised for which the government has to answer. There will be a need for transparency concerning the whole issue.
First Published With East West Link News - ewlnews.com
This article was written in July 2010
Oakland University
A recent article on the Department of Defense website has created quite a stir. The article brings to light the fact that the U.S. Geologists have uncovered large deposits of mineral resources in the mountains of Afghanistan. The minerals are worth over a trillion dollars.
The report mentions that the resource evaluation of the country’s land began a year ago. It has also been mentioned that the research records of the Erstwhile Soviet Union were used as a foundation basis for this research.
Paul Brinkley, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and Director of Task Force Business and Stability Operations, in a phone conversation available on the Department of Defense website said:“We’ve identified 20 sites that are worth a lot of money that will generate enough revenue for the Afghans to pay for their own way, you can count on private industry to make investments to help develop these resources because they generate a high return for the companies and done appropriately generate a great return for the country involved.”
Brinkley means to say that the resources of the people of Afghanistan will be made available to U.S. companies to ship away in return for a pittance to the war torn nation that is divided by tribal feuds.
We must remember that the country has no centralized system of government, and the government they have, has hardly any influence outside of Kabul city.
Surely the corporations will not be mining for public service, they will be mining for profit maximization. If the foreign companies start mining for resources, it will be poor Afghans working in the mines.
The country’s government is in shambles, knowing this, will the companies spend money on upholding work safety standards as opposed to profit maximization? Will these foreign companies uphold human rights and dignity when the US army didn’t do so in Iraq? Will they uphold international environment safety standards and regulations? Will there be a percentage partnership between Afghan businessmen and American companies?
Is America’s original agenda of finding Bin Laden and destroying Al-Qaeda going to be overshadowed by corporate greed? Do the officials and the administration believe that bin Laden is hiding in the gold mines?
Is this why the US army generals kept asking for more troops? Did the current administration already know of the resources in the land? Did the previous administration know of this? The soviet geologists were doing the same research before they were ousted, it was their reports that became the basis for the American activities. How much did the soviets know of this?
Why was this news released at a time when the war was in one of the most chaotic stages since the start and when people in America were growing disheartened by the war? Was this information a final bullet in the pro war propagandist’s pistol, to try to bank on the desperate greed of a nation in a severe financial crisis? Is this an effort to ensure corporate lobbyists pressurizing the government to continue a failing war?
We must also remember, in the early stages of the Iraq occupation, the oil that was being mined by American companies was not even metered, it was unaccounted for. Has this started in Afghanistan already in respect to its most valuable resources? How much of the minerals have already been mined and shipped away?
Often times, whenever resources have been found in underdeveloped countries there has been violence and bloodshed. The bloodshed is continuing already but will it intensify? The Afghan Taliban till now have been fighting to regain control of the country which had hardly any known minerals. Will they now not be emboldened to fight even more?
Will Afghanistan’s gold become blood gold just like how Africa’s diamonds became blood diamonds ?
Many questions are raised for which the government has to answer. There will be a need for transparency concerning the whole issue.
First Published With East West Link News - ewlnews.com
This article was written in July 2010
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