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June 14, 2010

Afghan Officials Elated by Minerals Report

By ALISSA J. RUBIN

KABUL, Afghanistan Government officials sounded headily optimistic Monday as they fielded questions from local and international reporters about a new report on the extent of Afghanistans mineral wealth that suggests considerable potential for products other than opium, which until now has been the countrys most lucrative export. The report, produced by the American military and the United States Geological Survey, found that Afghanistan had at least $1 trillion in mineral wealth. In a news conference primarily with Afghan reporters, President Hamid Karzais spokesman, Waheed Omar, called the report the best news we have had over many years in Afghanistan. The Afghan government is actively looking to its Ministry of Mines, to its Ministry of Commerce and to other entities in the Afghan government to start to bring these to the benefit of the Afghan people, he said. As they waited to hear Mr. Karzais spokesman, some Afghan reporters excitedly calculated among themselves how much each Afghan would theoretically get if the mineral treasure trove were divided equally. Assuming the $1 trillion valuation and Afghanistans population of 29 million, that would give each Afghan man, woman and child $34,482.76. Bidding for rights to explore the reserves could begin in as little as six months, said Jawad Omar, spokesman for the Mines Ministry. The minister is expected to give a detailed news conference on the report this week. According to the report, which was described Monday in The New York Times, Afghanistan has at least $1 trillion in mineral deposits that have yet to be unearthed. It is a potential income source so vast that if it were tapped and the wealth handled in a way to benefit the whole population, the country could be transformed. It would also turn Afghanistan into a mining center. That would, however, require a substantial change in the countrys circumstances, since many of the reserves were found in politically unstable areas, said Mr. Omar, the Mines Ministry spokesman.

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Mineral Wealth Estimate Excites Afghan Officials - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?hpw=&p...

Mining is not like a shop that you can open and immediately take advantage of, he said, adding that it would most likely take 5 to 10 years before the country could begin to use those reserves. Mining needs studies, infrastructure and security in order to attract the investments, he said. American geological experts have said it could take far longer, perhaps decades, given the lack of mining infrastructure. Afghan officials said the government believed that there was even more wealth than was reflected in the minerals survey, in part because the surveyors did not examine closely the entire country and at least 30 percent of it has yet to be fully investigated. One worry, raised by reporters at the presidential spokesmans weekly news conference on Monday, is that neighboring countries as well as the Taliban would see the wealth as a further incentive to wrest power from the current government. Or perhaps in some areas, insurgents or warlords would try to ensure that a measure of the wealth came to them. Waheed Omar, the presidents spokesman, avoided addressing the worrisome possibilities and focused on the potential benefits. This will improve drastically the lives of the Afghan people, the economic status of the Afghan people and to see that positively, that will unite the Afghan people, he said.

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