Rich Mineral Deposits Discovered In Afghanistan

A small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists have discovered astonishing quantities of valuable minerals in Afghanistan. The hope is that mining might eventually replace the opium trade as Afghanistan's major source of income. The danger is that this discovery of potential wealth may spur the Taliban on to even greater efforts to take control of the war-torn country.

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.

By: Shelldrake