Pentagon report in April never mentioned $1 trillion in Afghan wealth

Pentagon report in April never mentioned $1 trillion in Afghan wealth
By Muriel Kane
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010 -- 10:37 am

A RAW STORY investigation has revealed that a report released by the Pentagon last April on the progress of the Afghanistan "surge" included only a single passing reference to a survey that is now being touted as having discovered mineral resources in that nation potentially worth $1 trillion.

The lack of any mention of dramatic new discoveries is likely to reinforce suspicions that there is something bogus about the claim in last Sunday's New York Times that "the United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself."

The only reference to minerals in April's 152-page Pentagon report occurs in a section of just two paragraphs devoted to the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO), whose survey last fall supposedly revealed the newly-found resources.

~snip~

The story of new-found wealth has already aroused widespread skepticism, especially since a detailed US Geological Survey report on Afghanistan's mineral resources was published as recently as 2007. Wired, for example, suggests that "the timing of the 'discovery' seems just a little too convenient. As Blake Hounshell at Foreign Policy notes, the Obama administration is struggling to combat the perception that the Afghan campaign has 'made little discernible progress,' despite thousands of additional troops and billions of extra dollars."

What may be an even more acute observation, however, was offered by Jim Lobe at Asia Times. "The Pentagon memo may have been an effort to attract international interest in the mining sector before the auction in the next few weeks of the 1.8 billion-ton iron-ore field in Hajigak, which could be worth $5 billion to $6 billion," Lobe writes. "Afghan and Western officials want more companies to bid for Hajigak and other deposits to prevent China from gaining control over Afghanistan’s natural resources through bids subsidized heavily by Beijing."

Minor things like $1 trillion in natural deposits.

;-)

crapola will have emerged from the war in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc etc

(And that'll happen when pigs fly)