Afghan minerals could turn war's tide

[superconnected]

Source: CCN News

(CNN) -- The news that Afghanistan's mineral wealth could exceed $1 trillion is an important opportunity for both Kabul and Washington to change the narrative from counterinsurgency to locally controlled sustainable development.

By doing so, the government of Hamid Karzai and the Obama administration can leverage a range of converging interests in South and Central Asia to put Afghanistan and the region finally on the only viable path to security -- rising economic prosperity in the larger region.

Natural resources are both a blessing and a curse. For some countries strong government and civil society can manage them so the larger society benefits and profits are invested in the human resources of the country. The BP oil spill notwithstanding, this has been the case for the United States, Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom.

For many other countries, natural resource wealth has been a curse. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been at war over its resources for more than 15 years. Angola's oil wealth fueled a multidecade civil war, and Iraq's strategic position at the heart of the Persian Gulf oil patch led to a dictatorship that was both sponsored by the United States and then destroyed by it.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/15/doherty.afghan.minerals/index.html

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We all wondered why the press release of old news - minerals content in Afghanistan, was shoved in our face, now we know. And we were right - justification of keeping us in Afghanistan propaganda.

[msongs]

1. withdraw the US military and let corporate CEOs duke it out with the afghanis nt

[YOY]

2. +1,000,000

Even if we could justify using our tax dollars and military lives it benefits the American people zero.

[sasquuatch55]

4. Makes you wonder if the US didn't know this all along, with their Imperialistic agenda in the Middle

East.

[Oregone]

3. Are you fuckn kidding me? You think Afghans trust corrupt Kabul to manage these resources?

I'm sorry, but Karzai AND the US have thus far proven to be totally untrustworthy, as far as fairly distributing proceeds from natural wealth to the inhabitants of the country. If anything, this gives the dirty Taliban something to campaign on.

I don't know. I don't get it. Maybe its because I'm Western. But this seems like BS to me. Just because its being repeated, ad nauseam, about changing the war's tide, it doesn't make it true. Now these people might be able to envision a future, like their long past, without some western country ordering them around

[superconnected]

5. Okay, I don't get two things - 1. why the thead was moved, 2. why we can't question the mods.

I mean it was latest breaking news yesterday when I posted it. It's relevant. Why was it moved from LBN?

[sasquuatch55]

6. Thank corporate owned media!

nt