Hey, As Long As We Are There
Let's Dig Around and See What We Can Find
by James Glaser
February 2, 2010

Sure, we are in Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden, but if he's not there, then we are there to bring peace and democracy to our brothers in Christ.

Ah, maybe that isn't it either. That Christian thing with the Muslims in Afghanistan isn't going over all that well, but there is still one very good reason for us to be there in this our ninth year of combat. Afghanistan has a lot of untouched natural resources.

It seems that along with the Army and Marines we sent to fight the Taliban, we sent in some other troops. Those would be the troops from the United States Geological Survey. For several years now, the USGS troops have been digging around all over Afghanistan, and wouldn't you know it, they found all sorts of valuable things.

Gold, copper, iron ore, chromite, natural gas, and oil to name a few. Now, some of these resources were discovered years ago, but the constant state of war there has kept them from being developed. However, even with our war going on, our USGS troops were able to make estimates of the value of the resources known and find new ones.

The problem with being the occupying power in a country, is that even the puppet government you set up does not feel good about letting you take control of their resources. Now, after spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Afghanistan and shedding the blood of hundreds of our troops, China and India are going to reap the rewards from our war. Here is how Agence France-Presse reports it:

China and India have bid for contracts to develop mines, with the Chinese winning a copper contract. An iron ore contract is due to be awarded later this year.

In 2007, China's state-owned metals giant Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) signed a three-billion-dollar contract to develop the Aynak copper mine—one of the world's biggest—over the next 30 years.

First discovered in 1974, the site, 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of Kabul in Logar, is estimated to contain 11.3 million tonnes of copper.

The Hajigak iron ore mine in Bamiyan province, north of Kabul, is currently under tender, with one Chinese and half a dozen Indian firms bidding.

The contract is for exploitation of almost two billion tonnes of high-grade ore, involving processing, smelting, steel production and electricity production.

It looks like we are going to come out on the short end of the stick in Afghanistan doesn't it, but as Vietnam has taught us, you can't win them all.

Iraq is another story. We have poured, and are pouring, more money into that country than we have in Afghanistan. That war is paying off. It looks like many American corporations will be developing Iraq's vast oil reserves. I am sure the USGS troops have scoured that country, too.

American corporations make money with every war we have, but with some of those wars there is the added bonus of being able to rape the attacked country of their natural resources. England did that for over a century, as did Spain, France and Belgium. I guess for the last 100 years it has been the United State's turn.

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