Afghanistan has nearly $1,000,000,000,000 in mineral wealth.

The_Minister

(is that enough zeros for a trillion?).
Link

Article is too long to quote (two pages), but essentially Afghanistan could, if developed, become one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East, instead of one of the poorest.

Will this end the war in Afghanistan, or exacerbate it?

flutered

undoubatly fuel to the fire.

thetonynator

The Americans will prob invade and take everything leaving a destroyed country with no hope of developing in the next 50 years . . .wait . . .that sounds familiar . . . .

wes

Well hopefully, the government there can get its act together, and ensure that all ethnic groups get a fair share of the wealth, and Afghanistan can become a nice place to live for its people, as apposed to the current war torn nation that it is.

WindSock

If only they were allowed discover it themselves instead of wasting all their energy on running around telling people what to wear.

pickarooney

Having untold mineral wealth has been of **** all use to Africa.

The_Minister

WindSock wrote: »

If only they were allowed discover it themselves instead of wasting all their energy on running around telling people what to wear.

In fairness, the reason they didn't see it till now wasn't because their vision was obscured by burkas....


They've actually known since the Soviets.

bonerm

Big deal. Kazakhstan is #1 exporter of potassium.

Truley

Nothing surprising, America isn't in a habit of occupying poor countries :rolleyes:

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

Having untold mineral wealth has been of **** all use to Africa.

But it has to Europe and America /yoink

ejmaztec

WindSock wrote: »

If only they were allowed discover it themselves instead of wasting all their energy on running around telling people what to wear.

The Taliban will be the first ones to place an order for Armani suits, after they've grabbed some of the action, but the women will still be getting their garb from the local camping supplies shop.

Berty

Sounds like there might be weapons of mass destruction to be searched for.

Wazdakka

Truley wrote: »

Nothing surprising, America isn't in a habit of occupying poor countries :rolleyes:

There's still plenty of them in America...

And America has a national debt of over 13,000,000,000,000 (Trillion)
That's over $42,000 per us citizen.
They have to be the most in debt / poorest country at the moment

peasant

Wazdakka wrote: »

That's over $42,000 per us citizen.
They have to be the most in debt / poorest country at the moment

Ah no, that would be us (not US, us) ...depending on who's figures you believe, our debt per capita is about ten times that at around 440,000 USD per noggin

Wazdakka

peasant wrote: »

Ah no, that would be us (not US, us) ...depending on who's figures you believe, our debt per capita is about ten times that at around 440,000 USD per noggin

Really? :eek:
Madness...

Ah well... Good aul Ireland..
Any chance you have a Link for that?

L.Jenkins

Its alright, the Afghans will see none of that more than likely. By the time the yanks leave it will all be plundered and Afghanistan will resemble Central Africa, barren and useless to most.

peasant

peasant wrote: »

Ah no, that would be us (not US, us) ...depending on who's figures you believe, our debt per capita is about ten times that at around 440,000 USD per noggin

I think that's only if you take in OVERALL debt of the country including multinationals registered here for tax breaks etc.

djhunter30

djhunter30 wrote: »

Its alright, the Afghans will see none of that more than likely. By the time the yanks leave it will all be plundered and Afghanistan will resemble Central Africa, barren and useless to most.

Cause they were having such a great laugh before the Americans under the taliban yeah?

If MUSIC etc was banned in Ireland for being against Catholicism I personally would be dying for the yanks to come.

orourkeda

The_Minister wrote: »

(is that enough zeros for a trillion?).
Link

Article is too long to quote (two pages), but essentially Afghanistan could, if developed, become one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East, instead of one of the poorest.

Will this end the war in Afghanistan, or exacerbate it?

Perhaps this is cynical or wide of the mark but is this wealth the cause of the war (the real cause)

There has been a theory forwarded that the heroin trade is a part of the reason the war continues.

L.Jenkins

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

Cause they were having such a great laugh before the Americans under the taliban yeah?

If MUSIC etc was banned in Ireland for being against Catholicism I personally would be dying for the yanks to come.

I'm not talking about the political issues of Afghanistan, I'm stating that they won't see much of $1 trillion. How many Chemical Engineers do you think live in Afghanistan that aren't foreigners.

Banned Account

djhunter30 wrote: »

I'm not talking about the political issues of Afghanistan, I'm stating that they won't see much of $1 trillion. How many Chemical Engineers do you think live in Afghanistan that aren't foreigners.

36?
















Did I win?











14 then, definately 14
















Whats the prize?

Elevator

orourkeda wrote: »

Perhaps this is cynical or wide of the mark but is this wealth the cause of the war (the real cause)

There has been a theory forwarded that the heroin trade is a part of the reason the war continues.

you bet it certainly adds up to be one of reasons they're in the country alright, such an amount of monies to be made each year in smack production

ya got to wonder how they miss the poppy fields when they're capable of searching 70% of the country from the skies

ScumLord

Fitzcaraldo wrote: »

36?
















Did I win?











14 then, definately 14
















Whats the prize?

The correct answer is one four year old boy, you where close though. The prise is the title of lead Chemical engineer in Afghanistan. You even get your own armoured company car.

El Siglo

History repeating itself.

happyeveryday

peasant wrote: »

Ah no, that would be us (not US, us) ...depending on who's figures you believe, our debt per capita is about ten times that at around 440,000 USD per noggin

Where did you get the 440,000 USD figure?

WindSock

happyeveryday wrote: »

Where did you get the 440,000 USD figure?

Yeah, I thought it was €10k pps. Don't know if that translates to $440 though. Might in this CEC.

happyeveryday

More then 10k, windsock.

National Debt at 31/12/09 - €75.2 Billion see link.

Estimate that at 90billion now. Current population is 4.4 million that equals approx €20,500 pp.

If you believe the media we could add 500billion to our commitments presently to account for bank guarantees, NAMA and Anglo Irish. But you should then accept the assets of the country too....but we'll leave that out for now.

Thats now 590billion or 134k pp.

SIX PACK

thetonynator wrote: »

The Americans will prob invade and take everything leaving a destroyed country with no hope of developing in the next 50 years . . .wait . . .that sounds familiar . . . .

Your ignorance amuses me...

Killer Pigeon

hmmmm, I think we should invade it so ... damn the US got there before us.

dlofnep

As if the Afghani's will see any of that.

ScumLord

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

hmmmm, I think we should invade it so ... damn the US got there before us.

With our abundance of water and their minerals we could have made a fortune.

Fighting Irish

If only religion didn't exist

thebigbiffo

haven't read whole thread but just want to say, due to the thread title...

WHY THE F'UCK DID YOU THINK THE YANKS WERE THERE

freedom me hole

Absurdum

how many bottles of Fanta is that

happyeveryday

happyeveryday wrote: »

If you believe the media we could add 500billion to our commitments presently to account for bank guarantees, NAMA and Anglo Irish. But you should then accept the assets of the country too....but we'll leave that out for now.

Thats now 590billion or 134k pp.

We probably shouldn't.. Your number makes zero sense even with it included but even less with it excluded.

karma_

Rule number one, page number one of the big rule book of war states;

1. Don't get involved in a land war in Afghanistan.

No one has ever successfully invaded Afghanistan, ever. The Americans/NATO have been there almost 10 years now and still making zero progress.

ScumLord

karma_ wrote: »

Rule number one, page number one of the big rule book of war states;

1. Don't get involved in a land war in Afghanistan.

No one has ever successfully invaded Afghanistan, ever. The Americans/NATO have been there almost 10 years now and still making zero progress.

Has there ever been a successful invasion of any country?

karma_

ScumLord wrote: »

Has there ever been a successful invasion of any country?

Yes, of course.

Ali Babba

Well if it was Ireland had that much mineral wealth we'd just give the lot to BP.................

peasant

happyeveryday wrote: »

Where did you get the 440,000 USD figure?

from him, he usually knows what he's talking about (but not always )

The_Minister

Fighting Irish wrote: »

If only religion didn't exist

Most of the Taliban are really only local warlords - most of the problems in Afghanistan have nothing to do with religion.

Manic Moran

The_Minister wrote: »

(is that enough zeros for a trillion?).
Link

Article is too long to quote (two pages), but essentially Afghanistan could, if developed, become one of the wealthiest countries in the Middle East, instead of one of the poorest.

Will this end the war in Afghanistan, or exacerbate it?

This is anything but news. They have three major potential industries. First gemstones. I came back with rubies, saphires, an emerald, and other such for fractions of what they would have cost me at home. I'm not joking when I say we'd stop at the side of the road and see if we couldn't find some ruby by the river.

Secondly, they supposedly have the purest, largest reserves of copper in the world.

Thirdly, they'll make an absolute killing at the whitewater rafting industry.

The big problem is getting to where the minerals are. To get mining equipment there, they need to first have roads. These roads do not exist. The first priority of road construction is to link the administrative centres, then the towns. They're still building to the admin centres. Eventually they'll get to the mine-head areas, but they're looking to get the basics down first.

NTM

galwayrush

The Russians sure made a **** up by quitting the place,LOL They gave up Alaska and all it's oil years ago for a relatively small sum of money .

happyeveryday

Deleted User wrote: »

We probably shouldn't.. Your number makes zero sense even with it included but even less with it excluded.

If you go back a few posts you'll see I was looking for an explanation behind the ""440,000 USD debt per capita in Ireland"".
I'm still confused by it, but i was trying to see how you could arrive at it and well if you add the national debt (€90billion), the bank deposit guarantee (€440 billion) and NAMA/Anglo (€60 billion to date) you arrive at €590 billion for a population of 4.4 million.

Thanks peasant, not a reliable source then. Think we are comparing public and private (household & company) debt in Ireland ie Total debt figures with the US quasi public debt.

I'll stop now.....off thread i think

aligator_am

Elevator wrote: »

you bet it certainly adds up to be one of reasons they're in the country alright, such an amount of monies to be made each year in smack production

ya got to wonder how they miss the poppy fields when they're capable of searching 70% of the country from the skies

You may find this interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t372emhXa60

ScumLord

Manic Moran wrote: »

This is anything but news. They have three major potential industries. First gemstones. I came back with rubies, saphires, an emerald, and other such for fractions of what they would have cost me at home. I'm not joking when I say we'd stop at the side of the road and see if we couldn't find some ruby by the river.

Secondly, they supposedly have the purest, largest reserves of copper in the world.

Thirdly, they'll make an absolute killing at the whitewater rafting industry.

Excellent news, it's much easier to sell democracy to a populace when they've something to pay for it with.

nacho libre

SIX PACK wrote: »

Your ignorance amuses me...

Are the likes of William Blum ignorant too? Does he know what he's talking about?

Capt'n Midnight

karma_ wrote: »

Rule number one, page number one of the big rule book of war states;

1. Don't get involved in a land war in Afghanistan.

No one has ever successfully invaded Afghanistan, ever. The Americans/NATO have been there almost 10 years now and still making zero progress.

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia"

successful invasions that weren't repelled by the afgans
Cyrus II
Darius I
Alexander the Great
The Kushans
Why do you think it's a Muslim country , successful invasion !
Mongols were there for three centuries too

and the Americana neo-cons gave a lot of support to the islamic fundamentalists and are still reaping the whirlwind from it

nacho libre

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

and the Americana neo-cons gave a lot of support to the islamic fundamentalists and are still reaping the whirlwind from it

You mean the American Government was supporting terrorists, while the benevolent Russians were trying to defeat them and bring about freedom and democracy to Afghanistan :eek:

jesus_thats_gre

Wazdakka wrote: »

There's still plenty of them in America...

And America has a national debt of over 13,000,000,000,000 (Trillion)
That's over $42,000 per us citizen.
They have to be the most in debt / poorest country at the moment

Significantly overplayed fact of the decade!

Capt'n Midnight

nacho libre wrote: »

You mean the American Government was supporting terrorists, while the benevolent Russians were trying to defeat them and bring about freedom and democracy to Afghanistan :eek:

All the Russians were doing was to launch a pre-emptive strike against those responsible for 911. And it would have worked too except for those meddling kids in the CIA