Afghan Commodities Discovery Interests the Pentagon

There’s apparently a fortune in the ground in the Hindu Kush.

Afghanistan may be a new commodities giant. Mineral deposits worth billions of dollars have been discovered by, of all people, geologists working for the U.S. Department of Defense. There’s lithium, iron, copper and gold. What’s really interesting is the timing of this discovery: The development of gigantic mineral deposits could be of extreme interest to the country’s rulers.

The exact extent of the reserves hasn’t been stated, but General David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has mentioned “breathtaking possibilities.”

Kabul’s Minister of Mining, Wahidullah Shahrani, is skeptical about the discovery. He assumes that many of the sites being sold as new discoveries aren’t really new. The fact is, it’s been long assumed that Afghanistan had to have massive raw materials deposits. Among other things, additional oil reserves and uranium were discovered in 2006.

The actual discovery will, above all, awaken new interest among Afghanistan’s power players. The justifications for the war up to now (war on terror, human rights) have lost their selling power due to the deteriorating military situation there. Added to that is the discord between Washington and Kabul and its nominal ruler, Hamid Karzai, whose obviously fudged election last year has been the source of considerable heartburn in Washington.

The development of large mineral resources would be of particular interest to the United States — if for no other reason than that China is also active in the area. The MCC China Metallurgical Group is already exploiting the 700 million tons of copper available in the Aynak mine. As early as the victory of U.S. forces over the Taliban in the mid-1990s, U.S. corporations had made raw materials and transit deals with the mullahs.

Concern for human rights and democracy in the Afghan centers of power will probably become a consideration for the future.