No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
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Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#2Regardless of the political motivations that sparked the announcement, I was excited to hear about it.
I became interested in Afghanistan in 2001, along with everybody else. Before that, my only exposure to the country was my reading of "The Man who would be King", by Kipling.
Everything that I've heard about the Afghanistan economy has had to do with opium and heroin. To have it announced that there was a very real possibility that there may be a way to grow their economy in a very real and significant way, and a way that benefits the rest of the world, rather than harms it, is exciting news to me.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#3I guess what I don't understand is why thought this was good news. Look around the world at countries whose economies depend on non-labor-intensive natural resource extraction. Saudi Arabia, Russia, etc. These resources form a natural monopoly and quickly become the subject of political power.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#4A guy called into NPR this morning and said he had a worlds almanac from 1967 with an article about Afghanistan's mineral riches.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#5So does this mean that the current war in Afghanistan is a war for lithium?
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#6I guess what I don't understand is why thought this was good news. Look around the world at countries whose economies depend on non-labor-intensive natural resource extraction. Saudi Arabia, Russia, etc. These resources form a natural monopoly and quickly become the subject of political power.
I guess it's a good thing we replaced the Taliban with the CIA then.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#7New or not, this story in the NYTimes at least brought an old perspective to the new generation. Lot more people (due to Lithium take of the story) is now aware of the potential of Afghanistan, irrespective of the conspiracy theories etc.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#8So does this mean that the current war in Afghanistan is a war for lithium?
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Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#9New or not, this story in the NYTimes at least brought an old perspective to the new generation. Lot more people (due to Lithium take of the story) is now aware of the potential of Afghanistan, irrespective of the conspiracy theories etc.
agreed, Marketing matters.
Re: No, The U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ a $1 Trillion Afghan Motherlode
#10Regardless of the political motivations that sparked the announcement, I was excited to hear about it. I became interested in Afghanistan in 2001, along with everybody else. Before that, my only exposure to the country was my reading of "The Man who would be King", by Kipling. Everything that I've heard about the Afghanistan economy has had to do with opium and heroin. To have it announced that there was a very real…
Your demographic is showing.
Some of us became interested in Afghanistan back in '79, when the Soviets invaded, and President Carter (remember him?) re-instated draft registration. Seemed pretty important at the time, but seems to be forgotten now...