So the Latest Big News is the "discovery" of vast amounts of mineral wealth in Afghanistan. The doomsayers here are already talking about endless war just to get our grubby little hands on some metals.
I say that this is the perfect opportunity for us to kill many birds with one stone, as it were. This is the perfect opportunity to end the war and bring peace and prosperity to the region.
I must admit, I was a bit torn when planning this diary. I can either do a hope-filled, rosy-glasses, unicorn-and-rainbow diary, or I can release my inner skeptic and call forth the hounds of cynicism.
Maybe I'll do both.
Now as I understand it, Afghanistan has no mining technology or infrastructure. Plus, there's the little obstacle of a war going on. So these resources can't be exploited right away. This can be the perfect opportunity to set up talks with not only Karzai and the tribal leaders, but also with the Taliban. It is in EVERYONE'S interest for these resources to be tapped. Therefore, the fighting must stop.
Possible concessions the US could get in exchange for the know-how and the assistance to set up a mining industry could be the elimination of al-Queda and Osama bin Laden, continued democratically elected governments, and things like that.
What would be an incentive? Religion and ideology are powerful motivators, but nothing motivates like cold hard cash. Corruption is endemic in Afghanistan, I've heard, and certainly savvy "officials" can negotiate a piece of the action for everyone.
Certainly they would need help starting up operations, and certainly we have the executives and know how to help them. Plus, with the right training, Afghani mining experts and workers can be exported to other areas of the region that may have similar "untapped and undiscovered" resources.
Building a capitalist class and letting the country have a taste of money will make most of the ideological considerations go away. Especially when the contractors hired to begin the work all come from the US, which will naturally have a prime stake in that market. We pull out our armies, only to release our most dangerous weapon--the CEOs.
Afghanistan, conquered not by armies, but by the Corporatists.
I know I'm spouting scattered and random thoughts off the top of my head about this, but if this is handled right, we could set the stage for our eventual pullout, and leave the country in a relatively stable condition.