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Jacob Heilbrunn

Jacob Heilbrunn

Posted: June 14, 2010 12:06 PM

Obama's Fool's Gold in Afghanistan

What's Your Reaction:

So Afghanistan has overnight turned into the "Saudi Arabia" of precious metals, has it? The Pentagon's asseverations about the lucre contained in miserable Afghanistan testify to its tireless ingenuity in selling the war. But even if Afghanistan does turn out to possess everything the Pentagon claims it does, the sad truth is that precious natural resources are, more often than not, a curse for the Third World nations that harbor them.

A scramble for Afghanistan's resources would simply intensify the tribal warfare that's already taking place in that devastated country. But it's not all that surprising that the Pentagon would float this little PR trial balloon. It isn't simply that the war isn't going well. It's that, according to a fascinating report in the Los Angeles Times by Alex Rodriguez, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is actually represented on the Taliban leadership council, known as the shura. In other words, our close ally, Pakistan, the recipient of billions in American largess, is actually helping to coordinate the fight against America and its allies in Afghanistan.

This information comes courtesy of the London School of Economics, which has issued a new report written by Matt Waldman, who interviewed nine Taliban commanders. According to Waldman, ""the ISI has representatives on the Shura, either as participants or observers, and the agency is thus involved at the highest level of the movement." He also says that Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari is in on the game: he has met with senior Taliban commanders inside Pakistan and vowed to assist them in their struggle.

For President Obama, the endgame may be looming more quickly than he anticipated. As the military backpedals from attacking Kandahar, his surge has pretty much failed before it even began. Pakistan, convinced that America will bug out, isn't playing footsie with the Taliban; it's actively conniving with them. Meanwhile, Afghan president Hamid Karzai is furiously seeking to cut his own deal with the Taliban before he's ignominiously ousted from office.

It isn't a pretty picture. But it's not one that Obama or the Pentagon or even trillions and trillions in rare minerals will be able to prettify. If the latest reports are anything to go by, America is chasing fool's gold in Afghanistan.

 
 
 
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Sean Whelan
Increase my digits, if yo will!
08:59 PM on 06/20/2010
Jacob is hot!
07:33 PM on 06/20/2010
AFGATAR !!!

And Haliburton already hired Blackwater to rob Afghanistan from their natural recourses.
Could it be be that this the root cause why the Taliban hate US?

What about "They hate us because of our freedom"
04:12 PM on 06/20/2010
precious natural resources are, more often than not, a curse for the Third World nations that harbor them."
and also for countries that take over and colonise them
wealthy individuals convinced England to colonise Rhodesia and new zealend so they could make fortunes...
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
den1953
The National Inquire of Politics the GOP!
12:49 PM on 06/20/2010
If it is looked at as fools gold, who is the real fool in this all Karzai or Japan?
01:45 AM on 06/20/2010
"...precious natural resources are, more often than not, a curse for the Third World nations that harbor them." This statement made me think of Louisiana.
12:08 PM on 06/15/2010
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, a presidential advisor, Trilateral Commission founder, Bilderberger, and Council of Foreign Relations figurehead describes the strategic location of the Eurasian Balkans (of which Afghanistan is the heart of) as follows:
“…the Eurasian Balkans are infinitely more important as a potential economic prize: an enormous concentration of natural gas and oil reserves is located in the region, in addition to important minerals, including gold (page 124),” and “America’s global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Euraisian continent is sustained…A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions…most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil (page 30-31).”

Brzezinski also noted that in order for the U.S. to the “manage” the Eurasia continent sufficiently they must, “prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together (page 40).”
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intotheabyss
Imperialism is a form of insanity.
08:06 AM on 06/20/2010
Thanks for doing the research. That pretty much tells us everything we need to know, doesn't it? War for plunder. Whodathunk?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Bedouin1957
Paine is my hero.
11:29 AM on 06/15/2010
Okay. Let me see if I have this straight. We get attacked on 9/11 by a bunch of Saudi Arabians, because Bush wasn't paying attention to his intelligence briefs. We attack Afghanistan going after an exiled Saudi, Osama, and run across these Taliban folks in the process, and work to topple them. The bin Laden family then in the U.S are allowed to leave, so that, presumably, we can maintain our air base, and continue to be able to purchase Saudi Oil. Meanwhile, Rumsfeld reminds Dubya that he (Rumsfeld) sold a bunch of WMD's to Saddam a while back, and we'll never catch Osama in them thar hills of Afghanistan anyway, so let's vent elsewhere. That "mission accomplished," we can now turn our attention back to Afghanistan, where we've had plenty of time to confirm that there's all kindsa neat stuff in them thar hills, buy blowing the hell out of them to uncover all those precious minerals. Haliburton now is just waiting in the wings to get the no-bid contract to start plans for building the infrastructure necessary to exploit said wealth. But, what to do with those pesky Pakistanis, and tenacious Taliban?

My point? It doesn't, and never has, matter who's in the white house. This, my friends, is business as usual, and I can't figure out why people are shocked.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
busman
03:05 PM on 06/15/2010
Absolutely correct. Also the fact that Bush's Secretary of Defense stayed on after Obama came into office fits the scenario.
Note to Obots: Dems and Repubs are essentially no different from each other, in so far as who they ultimately serve (corporate America). Obama is just as much a tool of corporations as Bush was. Time to wake up.
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11:10 PM on 06/20/2010
But we vote, don't we?! That may explains that our problem with Iran is mostly geopolitical than anything else.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Carvajal
11:18 AM on 06/15/2010
excellent article. Thank you.
what about opium?? that where the real gold is ! over 500 billions of it..the brits love it that is why they are there. this is a repetition what the british did to the chinese.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ishmael1
A Man Born To Hang Ain't Gonna Die Of Drowning
11:14 AM on 06/15/2010
HELLO! The Taliban is an ISI CREATION. The ISI created, funded and armed the Taliban from the Get-go during the civil wars in Afghanistan of the 90's. The purpose was always tp maintain Pakistani control of and influence over Afghanistan. The only problem now for the Pakistani government is the rising influence of the Taliban in Pakistan as well. Can you say, Blowback?
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11:20 PM on 06/20/2010
Sounds like the creation of Hamas by Is_rael!
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Donnat
Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned
10:59 AM on 06/15/2010
I have an idea, let's stop the war in Iraq and help Afghanistan build an economy on all of their 'precious resources' that will pull them into the 21st (or at least the 20th) century and help them to defeat extremist forces like the Taliban.

Hahahahahahaha, who am I kidding, we'll just go in and kill everyone and destroy their environment, while only a handful of already filthy rich Americans reap the profits, that's what we usually do.
10:45 AM on 06/15/2010
“"So it has come to this. A Disney-esque storyline is now the latest narrative for Why We Were Right. '$1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits', the New York Times gushes breathlessly, as though the Good News mustn’t wait another moment to comfort our hearts, 'far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.'"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/14/875884/-Liberators-Once-More:-the-New-Party-Line-for-Selling-the-Afghanistan-War”
08:35 PM on 06/20/2010
If $1 trillion causes breathlessness, how about $3 trillion. $1 trillion is so yesterday.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Elijah A Alexander Jr
Elijah NatureBoy
10:44 AM on 06/15/2010
The "fivehouse's" released information is the answer as to why the US tagged the Taliban with the WTC, Corporate America's knowing what was there needed a way to get it. Bush, Jr., being a corporate oil boy, was attempting to kill 2 birds with one stone, get Hussein, as promised after his inauguration, and Iraq's oil on a pretense of WMD, then the the vast store of precious metals from Afghanistan to include a way to pipe oil to ships.

Brilliant plan had it worked. They didn't realize all Semitic nations, Israel included, are Ishmaelites and European nations Jacobites will be fighting until the end of the world. Semitics being a Black and White mixed people have the strength of Esau and cunning of Jacob, Whites will never best them.

What the US need to do is abide by Amendment 2, apologize to the 2 nations, assist them to rebuild and bring all troupes onto US soil. Then, if Halliburton and other corporations want the oil and metals, allow them to figure out how to get it. After the apology, Bush should be arrested for aggression in doing it, violating of the constitution.
11:07 AM on 06/15/2010
So, it is Bush's fault that obama is procesuting 2 wars.....hmmm....you are a genius!
08:43 PM on 06/20/2010
Yes, it is Bush's fault that Obama is prosecuting two wars. Bush, regardless of everything else, had the nerve to push us into wars in these two places.

The current prez then had only to go along with the military on two already in progress wars having considerable momentum. All he had to do is say, "Yes, General Gates" "I defer to your judgement, General Petraeus" "You know how to torture 'em, keep at it, good job General Mc Chrystal" Would he have had the nerve to start the wars?

So Bush owns the wars. And so does Obama. I get a chuckle out of people with posts that think that because person X is responsible for something, person Y is somehow less responsible. These wars for inadequate reason constitute slaughter of innocents and both men, as well as others, are responsible.

Note that elsewhere, we have discovered the prez has expanded "Black Ops" operations against "radical groups" to 75 nations from 60 nations. That is more than 1/3 of all the countries in the world. 75 countries are getting covert help in "controlling" their dissidents or are being covertly undermined!!!

This is why it is a mistake to just look at the budget of the military when examining our defense budget. Lots of stuff is going on under other umbrellas - the State Dept. umbrella, the security state umbrella. Should be the military / security / industrial / world domination complex.
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11:47 PM on 06/20/2010
What about all the big talks about "The Change"?!
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
enlightenedgirl
the truth will set you free
10:27 AM on 06/15/2010
First of all they have Geological Reports from the 70's or 80's that show the amount of minerals deposited in Afghanistan. This is not new news, at least not to the Government. It might be the answer of coarse why Afghanistan has always been at war, the Soviets first and now the US.
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10:25 AM on 06/15/2010
good article, Jacob.

YUP, the Pentagon and the war masters are once again blind to all the facts. dontcha just wish they'd all blast off for Mars or where ever and leave Earth? Just leave, guys....you'll like it up there..
11:06 AM on 06/15/2010
Obama...let go to war for the oil...eh, nickel....eh, iron....eh, cobalt. I thought obama won the peace prize. Is he still conducting 2 wars?
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11:56 PM on 06/20/2010
Perhaps that is not the case. May be it is the American Public that is "blind to all the facts"!
10:20 AM on 06/15/2010
Sometimes I really think we have a memory hole in the US. The mineral wealth of Afghanistan was well known in the late 1950's. My room mate in college, an American, went to Kabul often to visit his father in the 1950's and early 60's. His father worked for one of the big US mining companies, and later for the State Dept. in Kabul.

At that time Afghanistan was a kingdom. Fairly stable, I believe. Later came coups, Soviet occupation, civil war, US and NATO occupation, more civil war, and the disaster we now have. But it wasn't always so.