Minerals worth $1 trillion discovered in Afghanistan

Is the tide of fortune about to turn for miserable, war-torn Afghanistan? American geologists say they have discovered that the country is sitting on mineral deposits worth $1 trillion - enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and change the course of history.

The deposits include iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium, a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and mobile phones. The deposits are so big that the country could become one of the most important mining centres in the world. A Pentagon memo says Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium".

Afghanistan already has a mining industry - mainly coal and copper - but it is nothing compared to what might be possible in the near future.

Gen David Petraeus, commander of US forces in the Middle East, told the New York Times at the weekend how the discovery was made by a team of Pentagon officials and US geologists. President Hamid Karzai was only recently recently briefed about it.

"There is stunning potential here," said Petraeus. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."

The mineral deposits are richest in the Ghazni province in southeast Afghanistan, but there are deposits scattered right across the country, including those areas where allied troops (above) are currently at war with the Taliban.

It will take some years to develop a serious mining industry but according to the New York Times the potential is so enormous that heavy investment could come quickly.

Crucially, as well as taking the country's pitiful $12bn gross domestic product into the stratosphere, mining could provide enough jobs to distract a generation from war.

Or will it? While Gen Petraeus and others fighting for peace in the region see the positives, there is a potential downside:

CORRUPTIONPresident Karzai's government has long been plagued with charges of corruption. Sudden wealth of the kind being forecast could see that corruption multiply.
 
The Taliban: The potential wealth could encourage the Taliban to fight harder to take back control of Afghanistan.

China: Always hungry for new resources to satisfy its own growing economy, China and the United States could end up fighting over investment.

Only one thing looks certain: whether or not it brings peace, the discovery means the Afghan economy will no longer be dependant on opium production and drug trafficking. ·