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First it was Iraq for oil and now Afghanistan for minerals. When will this colonialism butchery and exploitation of resources stop. Why not do the right and honest thing and stop the war propaganda and provide the real reason for war. Stop the war and provide the appropriate technology to extract such minerals, with full respect to the local environment, and get some share/profits of such mining and stop killing the local people. Recommend this post
Actually it was Russian geologists who found the minerals. Their American counterparts just happened to stumble across the 30-year old Russian reports shelved during the decades of war.
ReplyDeleteIn this region, ANY resource takes on geopolitical significance. Who would be lining up to get a lock on Afghan's resource wealth? India, China, Russia and, of course, the US. They may not be exchanging fire yet but there are enormous trade rivalries underway among the big players.
The TAP (trans-Afghanistan pipeline) is one aspect of this contest. America wants that line to carry Caspian Basin oil and gas to Gwadar in southern Pakistan to keep it out of the control of the Chinese and the Russians.
China, meanwhile, has locked up Afghan's rich copper fields in the north (while we were fighting the Talibs) and is building a railway into Afghanistan specifically to exploit that resource.
Now we're going to add more copper plus lithium, gold and iron to that mix. Sort of like pouring blood into waters full of circling sharks, eh?
Afghanistan has become an inescapable trap with layer upon layer of economic, military and political complexities.
One more point. The important thing about Afghanistan, at least for Canada, is to recognize that our interests in that country and America's are widely divergent. We're playing a very simple role, tinged with a lot of naivety. If we lose sight of our minimal purpose we indeed risk becoming Washington's Foreign Legion.
ReplyDeleteMoS, I knew about USSR but not the details you provided. Thanks. You seemed to have quite an extensive knowledge of the area. I read the post on your blog too.
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