What The Mineral Deposit Found In Afghanistan Really Means

There is some debate so far on how long the U.S. has known about the newly discovered huge lithium, copper, iron, gold deposits...Before or after we invaded - Who Knows

Anyway, I had some immediate thoughts on what this discovery really means:

A) We are NEVER leaving Afghanistan, NEVER. EVER. Think we'll walk away from a $1 trillion + money pile? No way. If we ever pull out now, Russia, or China, would swoop right in and take control. We'll need lots of troops there to protect it.

B) Corporations will become much richer. The Afghanis will not. Hamid Karzai will become richer, and his drug-dealing brother. See Saudia Arabia.

C) INSIDER DEALS!!! Contractors will come swiftly, and they will be related to the U.S. Government in some form or fashion. Haliburton anyone?

D) Can we FINALLY burn the poppy fields down now and stop dealing drugs???

Thoughts?

Why burn the poppy fields down?

You can make a lot of money selling Gold, but gold does not regrow next year. Poppy does.

The poppy fields are worth more than a few trillion dollars.

In theory, if conditions remain good for harvesting it indefinitely, you could have an infinite money flow from such a crop.

Every year you have more addicts begging for more, and you have a brand new crop to sell.

The Poppy is worth more than the natural minerals, sorry to say.

Ironic as hell I know.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Good point

Another overall point I was trying to make in the OP is that this is the U.S.'s way of telling all of us We are not ever going to leave here, despite what we have promised...

And one could also construe the announcement as a validation for our being there in the first place! ~perhaps our old reasons were getting flimsy ~

I mean, aren't we happy the bad old Russians did't find this before they pulled out? Boy, it's a good thing we've got so many troops over there!

reply to post by Signals


Your completely on the button Signals.

There is NO way that the US will allow a Trillion Dollars worth of resources go to waste, or give them to the Afghani people.

The poppie fields will no doubt stay, the CIA need the money after all.

This is IMO, the single biggest reason for us to be in the Middle East. This is FAR more important than any oil reserve.

~Keeper

Originally posted by Signals
There is some debate so far on how long the U.S. has known about the newly discovered huge lithium, copper, iron, gold deposits...Before or after we invaded - Who Knows

Anyway, I had some immediate thoughts on what this discovery really means:

A) We are NEVER leaving Afghanistan, NEVER. EVER. Think we'll walk away from a $1 trillion + money pile? No way. If we ever pull out now, Russia, or China, would swoop right in and take control. We'll need lots of troops there to protect it.

The Afghanies may have an opinion on that! They could opt to offer mining contracts to any corp/company they choose.

B) Corporations will become much richer. The Afghanis will not. Hamid Karzai will become richer, and his drug-dealing brother. See Saudia Arabia.

The Afghani leadership and power brokers could well prefer a Russian, Chinese, Indian (it is often forgotten that India is a major manufacturing nation who, until the downturn, enjoyed exponential economic growth) deal.

C) INSIDER DEALS!!! Contractors will come swiftly, and they will be related to the U.S. Government in some form or fashion. Haliburton anyone?

Yes, and calling in debts and favours! The banks of course, will want to have the greatest say. It is they who will offer to extend the credit to get mining operations underway. It is they who can choose who to lend to and will feel they have the right to dictate terms.

D) Can we FINALLY burn the poppy fields down now and stop dealing drugs???

The poppy fields are a major source for big pharma morphine/opiate based drugs. In 2004, the British Medical Association suggested that the Afghan poppy fields could eleviate the shortage of diamorphine, referred to at the time (MSM) as a 'crisis'. The government rejected the idea (MSM again!). However, earlier this year I saw an ATS Thread about how the UN says we have the right to opiate based painkillers?



[edit on 14/6/2010 by teapot]

reply to post by teapot


I agree with your responses, they invoke the logical, common sense side of these issues that will pop up in time.

However, the U.S. owns Afghanistan, let's face it. They won't get to choose how this goes down!

reply to post by Signals

We are NEVER leaving Afghanistan, NEVER. EVER.

We wouldn't have anyway. South Korea, Japan, Vietnam...the US is not in the business of abandoning military bases abroad.

Can we FINALLY burn the poppy fields down now and stop dealing drugs???

No. The CIA gets too much funding from it to burn them.

I like to think these mineral deposits are the light at the end of the tunnel, the silver lining in the cloud. Could this possibly bring about economic relief during this recession? I think this could be good us and for our allies world wide. Who knows, we could all be financially better off a year from now because of it. Star and flag.

reply to post by maybee

I like to think these mineral deposits are the light at the end of the tunnel, the silver lining in the cloud. Could this possibly bring about economic relief during this recession? I think this could be good us and for our allies world wide. Who knows, we could all be financially better off a year from now because of it. Star and flag.

Hang on a minute.... why should another country's wealth be the light at the end of your tunnel?