New to the Old, Old to the New
How short minded are the people? Must be very, because the NY Times was running a story saying that Afghanistan has hit the jackpot, and they have tons of minerals underground that could be valued at 1 trillion dollars. Seems exciting but lets dig a bit deeper to this “revelation” that was brought to us by the the trusted “liberal” NY Times.
In 1984, a report was published by the Afghan Geological Survey Department of Soviet uranium mining revealed that uranium mining begun in 1983 in Khawaja Rashwash. All of the production was being sent to the Soviet Union. Not only that, but the Soviets learned that natural non-oil resources were in an abundance. The Afghan government was preparing to develop these resources with the Soviets in the mid-1980s. How is this possible? Didn’t this administration make a revelation to the world? How could the NY Times be wrong about this?
This is just a publicity stunt by the government to justify the war. The very same war that was promised to be over six months into his administration (He is 24 months late, but whose counting?). We were told this tall tale to make us happy for the corrupt government that is over there, and to also forget that the brother of the president is the biggest opium dealer around, who by the way was given to green light to do as he pleases by the CIA (who in turn is the biggest drug dealers in the planet. Its why they get to do as they please without ever answering to congress. They don’t get funds from us, they get it with the same drugs we, the USA, have vowed to eliminate).
The NY Times discuss how investors are excited of the potential of this discovery but there questions surrounding this? First being, Afghanistan has no mining infrastructure. Its going to take years for scientists and engineers to come into the country and make up plans as to how to get to these minerals. Second being, the transportation of these minerals to the sea ports and beyond. The terrain is hellish to say the least. The amount of time its going to take to build the tracks is years upon years. Third, the government corruption is going to make the excavation a nightmare. Fourth, who is going to provide the security? Karzai has said that the NATO forces cannot defeat the Taliban, and the Afghan government is not going to defeat the Taliban, so who will?
Last, and the most important question, who is going to pay for this? Well the answer to that last question is easy. Ill give you a hint, its the country whose government doesn’t mind its own business.
Miguel Espinal
