WASHINGTON--Untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan may be worth more than $1 trillion, a finding that could reshape the country's economy and help U.S. efforts to bolster the war-battered government, Pentagon officials said on Monday.
Afghanistan has significant deposits of copper, iron ore, niobium, cobalt, gold, molybdenum, silver and aluminum as well as sources of fluorspar, beryllium and lithium, among others, a task force studying the country's resources found.
"It's certainly potentially good news, especially for Afghanistan," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan. "If we can assist the Afghans in developing these resources, it certainly has the potential for adding a lot to their economy."
Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Paul Brinkley, who headed the task force, said the findings showed Afghanistan a path "toward its own economically sovereign capability to finance its own human and security needs."
Mineral wealth was huge and could take decades to overcome. The country has little mining infrastructure, is in the midst of a wrenching war and has a reputation for government corruption.
Mineral wealth in Afghanistan is scattered throughout the country, including along the border with Pakistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is the most intense. "This is an uphill climb for Afghanistan," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, adding the United States was helping Afghan officials develop a system to fairly distribute future revenues. "We're not underestimating the challenges involved here."
The extent of Afghanistan's mineral wealth was identified by a task force that included members from the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Geological Survey working in conjunction with officials from the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines. A briefing paper released released by the Pentagon said the main resources were iron ore with an estimated value of nearly $421 billion and copper deposits valued at $273 billion.
The minerals survey was part of a broader effort to identify the economic potential of Iraq and Afghanistan and help the governments develop the international business relations to exploit their resources. "This really is part and parcel of Gen. (Stanley) McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy," Lapan said. "This is that whole economic arm that we talk about but gets very little attention."
The Afghan review was initially carried out in 2006 and 2007, but the task force focused primarily on Iraq. With the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, the task force turned its attention back to Afghanistan and did a follow-up assessment.
The assessment concluded the scale of Afghanistan's mineral wealth "was much bigger" than initially realized, Lapan said.
An estimate based on mineral prices late last year concluded Afghanistan was sitting on mineral wealth of $1 trillion, a figure Afghan President Hamid Karzai mentioned at a news conference Jan. 31. Lapan said that figure may be low.