Afghanistan, the Saudi Arabia of lithium?
Sunday, 20. June 2010
Transforming Afghanistan into a Central Asian Saudi Arabia
It seems that Afghanistan is a never ending font of surprises. For decades U.S. officials took the position that Afghanistan held nothing of value for the United States, especially in the form of vital strategic resources. That assumption was a major reason for America’s consistently dismissive attitude towards Afghanistan up until the Soviet invasion of 1979 and why the U.S. was content to turn the country over to Pakistan and Saudi Arabian interests following the Soviet departure. Then on June 13, 2010 the New York Times in a front-page story reported how a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists had suddenly discovered a vast treasure of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth worth nearly $1 trillion dollars.
But the story of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth isn’t a new one nor did the Pentagon just “discover” it. According to a Reuters report of March 16, 2009, over a year ago, Afghanistan’s minister of mines Mohammed Ibrahim Adel cited U.S. Geological Survey Data in declaring that “In the field of minerals, Afghanistan is the richest country in the region, much more, hundreds of times more.”
Even the New York Times’ story admits that the survey information, on which the Pentagon assessment was based, came from data collected by Soviet mining experts nearly 30 years ago. American geologists became aware of it in 2004, but the data languished until 2009.
But the most revealing quote in the Pentagon report wasn’t so much that Afghanistan did indeed contain a vast wealth of minerals or even that the U.S. had carelessly overlooked a vast source of wealth for an impoverished nation. No. The key to understanding the report was framed by the reference that “Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium,’” and Saudi Arabia is where the real story behind the headlines begins.
This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has been used to as a model for Afghanistan’s future. One might go so far as to say today’s Afghanistan and its Taliban scourge already bears the stamp of being made in Saudi Arabia.
According to author, Gerald Posner in his book, Secrets of the Kingdom, the anti-Soviet Afghan war was as much a godsend for the Saudi Royal family as it was for the Afghan Islamists. “Some prominent Saudi officials, like Prince Bandar, as well as his father, defense minister Prince Sultan, saw the Soviet aggression as a chance to form a closer bond with Washington. It was a rare chance, they argued to other Saudi ministers, to replace Israel as America’s strategic partner in the Middle East. And as far as the Americans were concerned, the Saudis had suddenly become a cash cow.”
The term “Taliban” and the movement itself were unheard of in Afghanistan until 1994. Prior to the Soviet invasion, the Taliban mentality and the madrassa structure did not exist. As an invention of Pakistan’s military intelligence with outside help, the Taliban were not recruited from inside Afghanistan but from Pakistani madrassas. This process was funded, not by Afghans, but by the Saudis and other Arab countries who continue to seek the long term goal of a political and religious transformation of South Asia combined with the dissolution of Afghanistan as a nation state.
The Taliban version of Deobandi Islam practiced in Pakistan and the Wahhabism practiced in Saudi Arabia were both alien to Afghan practice. Suicide bombings did not exist in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation nor even when the Taliban took control in 1996. The Afghan people never willingly embraced extremist Islam. These ideas were forced upon them under circumstances beyond their control.
From the very beginning, the United States really had no conception of what to do in Afghanistan except to follow the lead of the Saudis, with some American diplomats benignly visualizing that a Taliban victory would simply turn Afghanistan into a miniature Saudi Arabia. In his book, Taliban, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid quotes one diplomat as saying, “The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis did. There will be Aramco, pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that.”
The Obama administration has nothing good to report to the American people on Afghanistan. New revelations of the hopelessness of government corruption arrive daily. Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai is in open confrontation with Washington on dozens of issues. Not only is reconstruction dead and the war failing, but so far, General McChrystal’s application of Counter Insurgency (COIN) has failed miserably. The heralded U.S. assault on Marja and the establishment of government control has come to a dead stop. According to the Washington Post, the failure at Marja has now caused the summer assault on Kandahar to be postponed indefinitely and threatens the Obama administration’s plans for a July 2011 drawdown of U.S. troops.
So, without a legitimate rationale for staying in Afghanistan and no conceivable way of justifying countless more billions of dollars or American lives – Washington has finally admitted that the country is not only important, but is vital to the future of America’s strategic mineral interests. But even now as the Obama administration dredges up a new reason for staying in Afghanistan past the 2011 deadline, it appears that the old motivation of transforming Afghanistan into a Central Asian Saudi Arabia remains the real motivation underlying America’s war.
# # # #
Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, a husband and wife team, began their experience in Afghanistan when they were the first American journalists to acquire permission to enter behind Soviet lines in 1981 for CBS News and produced a documentary, Afghanistan Between Three Worlds, for PBS. In 1983 they returned to Kabul with Harvard Negotiation project director Roger Fisher for ABC Nightline and contributed to the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour. They continued to research, write and lecture about the long-term run-up that led to the US invasion of Afghanistan. They are featured in an award winning documentary by Samira Goetschel. Titled, Our own Private Bin Laden which traces the creation of the Osama bin Laden mythology in Afghanistan and how that mythology has been used to maintain the “war on terror” approach of the Bush administration. Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story published by City Lights, January 2009 chronicles their three-decade-focus on Afghanistan and the media. Their next book Crossing Zero The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire will be published February, 2011.
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oliver Says:
“American geologists became aware of it in 2004, but the data languished until 2009.”
It’s this bit of the story which just doesn’t sit right. Not only had the Soviets been doing geological surveys in Afghanistan during their war there but even before that the French, Germans, Italians and Soviets had geological survey teams working on an Afghan National Geological Survey from the mid-1950s for approximately 25 years – at the beginning this programme UN funding was provided. The Soviets, in the 10 year period they were in the country, found 1,152 separate occurrences of minerals, it’s very likely that the European teams also made a considerable number of finds given that they were in the country for over twice the length of time the Soviets were there for.
What I don’t understand is why British and American geological teams didn’t start working in Afghanistan until 2004, over two years after the invasion started given that so much geological work had been done in the region and awareness of Afghanistan’s mineral riches, potential or otherwise, must have existed.
The information above I found at the Afghan Ministry of Mines (all handily written in English for some reason!): http://www.bgs.ac.uk/AfghanMinerals/About.htm
camusrebel Says:
so lithium is the new oil. and Afghanistan will be the new S.Arabia
except instead of a few hundred obscenely wealthy princes and millions in poverty there will be a few hundred obscenely wealthy western CEOs and millions in poverty. Brilliant!
I remember reading about how we had a big hand in creating the Taliban. American dollars(through ISI, Saudis, CIA and assorted aid programs) went to many things to help in the creation but the one that sticks in my head were the school textbooks. How militant and laden with weapons imagery they were. What do you get if you have 3 AK47′s and you add 9 more AK47′s …that kinda thing. Just glorifying violence anywhere they could.
Isn’t that nice? We are sooo philanthropic.
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Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Oliver: China, smartly, has been very active (hands-on) over there; when you get a chance check out their astute business conducts in Afghanistan.
Miguel Says:
What a piece of complete garbage disguised as journalism put out by Risen and the New York Times. Unbelievable! I am sure the residents of Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be happy to know that the presence of valuable natural resources autmoatically leads to peace, wealth and prosperity.
SanderO Says:
Empire is so deceitful. Some believed it was about a gas pipeline through Afghanistan which falls in line with what empires would do. But this revelation is a slam dunk that the reason the US is over there is to pave the way for multinationals to exploit resources and rape a nation and her people.
I don’t see that story has having much in the way of legs in the media in this country. It would sound like the typical US strategy to place a puppet government (we seen that in South America for decades) which welcomes US transnational corporations into “partnership” deals to exploit the nation’s wealth… making the despot rich, buying his silence, arming him up with weapons to suppress his own nation and taking the vast majority of the wealth from the nation… and of course having the locals work as slaves for these corporations while fouling the environment. “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” all over again. Not the image that US wants to present to the world.
Obama will have a hard time BSing his way through this one if the press ever acted like they are supposed to.
ZicaTanka Says:
Link: Bolivia: The Saudi Arabia of lithium?
At least Bolivia has Morales.
Sibel Edmonds Says:
@Miguel: About time to see Risen’s true identity. Check out his join book with one of our shadiest ex-CIA guys out there. That also makes me wonder about this whole deal with his perceived ‘legal dilemma’/subpoena…hmmmm
@Zica Tanka: right, and those in Middle East…pretty consisten, ey!
Metem Says:
Concerning the Saudis, and specifically Bandar “Bush” (as he’s often called), what they’re apparently doing in Iraq may throw a bit of light on the Afghan situation as well.
http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2010/05/24/02-323/
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127334§ionid=351020205
Simon Says:
Here I agree with Kingfisher: Please read ‘Stones into Schools’ by Greg Mortenson concurrently with ‘WAR’ by Sebastian Junger.
JasonWhited Says:
This notion that U.S. central planners were unaware of the resource wealth in this region is laughable and shown to be completely false, based on decades of declassified government documents.
U.S. planners have known for many decades that this region of the world contained much of the world’s petroleum and mineral resources – and I’m talking about this entire region running from Saudi Arabia running all the way up into some of the then-Soviet steppe republics.
I wonder if, one day, our supposed American leaders will fess up that the only reason we’ve got troops and war machines across this large swath of the globe is because of the material wealth and resources these nations have undergound.
We already know this is the case, as I mentioned, from decades of declassified documents. I wonder if American leaders will ultimately admit that we’re fighting these wars not against terrorists (a laughable explanation considering our own government’s involvement in generating/supporting many of these groups decades ago when it served our interests) but for oil, for minerals and the wealth that control of these resources would provide American multinationals.
Kingfisher Says:
“The key to understanding the report was framed by the reference that “Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium,’” and Saudi Arabia is where the real story behind the headlines begins.”
It’s an expression. When someone says somewhere could be a “Saudi Arabia of X”, they mean it could have vast reserves of X, and could become the dominant producer of X.
How you could infer from the NYT article that “Saudi Arabia is where the real story behind the headlines begins” is beyond me.
Kingfisher Says:
“I am sure the residents of Iraq and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be happy to know that the presence of valuable natural resources autmoatically leads to peace, wealth and prosperity.”
@Miguel,
Hahahahahahaa, peace in Africa and the Middle East! That’s a good one.
Even countries in both those regions (which barely exist to begin with) that don’t have any resource wealth are plagued to a life of eternal war.
Kingfisher Says:
“China, smartly, has been very active (hands-on) over there; when you get a chance check out their astute business conducts in Afghanistan.”
@Sibel,
Like their activities in bribery and corruption?
Kingfisher Says:
@SanderO,
Everyone hates you, and you have worn out your welcome here several times. Few people are as annoying as you are, and you are truly a terrible human being. Every time you post something the world continues to get dumber. Recent scientific evidence suggests that your prattle may be responsible for global climate change and/or starving children in Africa.
The world would be a much better place if a Silverback Gorilla escaped from its pen at the zoo and so savagely assaulted you that you would be unable to post of the internet for the rest of your life.
Please leave.
Sincerely,
Everyone
camusrebel Says:
as we were creating the Taliban in the 90′s w/help from ISI, Suadis, we were very thorough in what we wanted this Frankenstein to become. We went so far as to create their school textbook that glorified violence and familiarity with weapons of all kinds. That is telling and has stuck w/ since I read about it several years ago.
Be careful when wishing ill on others. If a poll here was taken on who we should ban I’m pretty sure slimy fishbait would win in a landslide. I love SanderO. I do not hate any human being. Some people’s actions and words I find despicable however.
Kingfisher Says:
Oh come on camusrebel, you’re going to sit there and tell me that it wouldn’t be totally amazing if a Silverback Gorilla escaped from the zoo and just started pummeling SanderO? Like that wouldn’t be the coolest thing you have ever seen in your life? We’re talking about Silverback Gorilla’s here; and we’re talking about SanderO getting pummeled by one. I would pay money to see that.
camusrebel Says:
i’m thinking it would be cooler if a giant cuttlefish morphed into what appeared to be a bulldozer, went back in time through a quantum wormhole vortex, rolled over all four of fishbaits wormy grandparents, took the ensuing gunk and made it into hot dogs. Kosher of course. Then served them at the last supper. “What are these”? all the bearded hippies ask.
The next morning they fertilize their gardens, saving us all indigestion.
remo Says:
‘Enduring freedom”War of Terror’ becomes ‘Overseas Contingency Operation’ [O C O, as in OCtOpus], but resource wars by definition: contingent upon returns. oil.lithium..gold .G.O.D knows what else.[unholy alliance]..
all mainline and bi-polar needs of motherland trickle-up to wall street. the backers of this crime of invasion, hid behind the great 911 fabrication – if 911 demolitions can be hidden from public, mineral deposit information won’t be a problem.['states secret']. anything, infact.
Not hidden are Afghanistan’s 700,000 xtra heroin/opium users since invasion.
Nor the million plus Iraq/Afghan civilians murdered enduring it.
protection reportedly paid to Taleban to secure O C O alliance transport routes. Contingencies of war / real politik: Bribery and corruption.
Helicopters starting to ‘have accidents’. Not a good sign in Afghanistan when the helicopters start coming down.
Kingfisher Says:
@remo,
What the hell do you care? Your country only has 150 troops in Afghanistan right now. It doesn’t affect you. Piss off.
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Kingfisher Says:
@remo,
What the hell do you care? Your country only has 150 troops in Afghanistan right now. It doesn’t affect you. Piss off.
remo Says:
piss off? where to, creep. it doesn’t effect me? A state/corporate/military fantasy organizing the 911 atrocity to create murderous religious WAR under stupid flags of nationalist revenge, claiming gods superiority, involved in state sanctioned assassinations GLOBALLY, legalized Torture, the removal of HabeasCorpus rights, the collateral murder of over a million people doesn’t EFFECT me? You got it wrong. bird. Thats why its called ‘global’, as in ‘Global fascism’.'full spectrum dominance’ means EVERYONE. the stain is EVERYwhere. Theres nowhere in the world to piss off to that your dung isn’t in the water already.
mcthorogood Says:
I started to read the Rolling Stone article, “On the Ground With Runaway General Stanley McChrystal”. McChrystal noted among other things that the situation in Afghanistan has resulted in the first resignation of a Bundespraesident since 1949. Of course the U.S. media downplayed Mr. Koehler’s resignation, saying that his post in the German government is mainly ceremonial.
Mr. Koehler made remarks to the affect that a military presence was required in Afghanistan to protect German business interests. His remarks were too much for the German people and the German media, who are more outspoken than their counterparts in the U.S.
Even if the U.S. finds a mother-lode of lithium in Afghanistan, it won’t be enough to treat the manic psychotics running our government, who are bent on conquering the world.
mcthorogood Says:
@Kingfisher
More puerile brain droppings?
Kingfisher Says:
“A state/corporate/military fantasy organizing the 911 atrocity to create murderous religious WAR under stupid flags of nationalist revenge, claiming gods superiority, involved in state sanctioned assassinations GLOBALLY, legalized Torture, the removal of HabeasCorpus rights, the collateral murder of over a million people doesn’t EFFECT me?”
Listen to your prattle, you get-off on this stuff. This is entertainment and self-gratification to you; with your rambling, your conspiracy theories, and your poetry.
Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsqJFIJ5lLs
Simon Says:
Petraeus offers more reasonable solutions as literacy increases in Afghanistan. Mineral resources provide an opium alternative. It’s all good. See http://www.stonesintoschools.com Greg has a respectful alliance with the U.S. military through Lt. Col. Chris Kolenda and Admiral Mike Mullen, the 17th and current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). Mullen states, “The Muslim community is a subtle world, we don’t fully and don’t always attempt to understand. Only through a shared appreciation of the people’s culture, needs, and hopes for the future can we hope ourselves to supplant the extremist narrative. We must engage them; we must listen to them; one heart and one mind at a time. This is unlike those politicians that Mortenson says have, “a kind of unwavering discipline and blatant disregard of the facts that Karl Rove would admire.” Now all we need to do is send John Perkins over to advise the newly educated Afghans about our economic hitmen.
Kingfisher Says:
“Now all we need to do is send John Perkins over to advise the newly educated Afghans about our economic hitmen.”
@Simon,
Even if Perkins wasn’t using a literary device to describe a dynamic and a process, which I believe he does, the guy got out of the game in like the 1970′s or 80′s and would be of little use.
I think Confessions of an Economic Hitman and to lesser extent his other one are interesting and encourage people to read them, I think it as a very interesting take on third-world debt – but I believe Perkins is using a literary device to do so. I very much doubt that Perkins ever worked for the NSA.
A far better imo, and more serious take on third-world debt is The Blood Bankers: Tales from the Global Underground Economy” by James S. Henry, who incidentally does not speak highly of Perkins.
But, I agree Greg Mortenson is wonderful. He has a strong following in the US military: http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/06/three-cups-of-tea-and-an-ied/
KF
Simon Says:
http://www.johnperkins.org/ Apparently John has come out with a third book that is current called ‘Hoodwinked’. Henry’s book was published in 2003. Perkins has a YouTube clip that ends with, The current president “is dramatically different from the previous president and yet the corporations are still calling the shots.”
camusrebel Says:
Naomi Klein rules! She know from whence third world debt comes and where it should go.