It’s not stylish to talk about good things the United States does in Afghanistan, but indulge me.
Prior to the U.S. invasion, the Taliban had much more important activities on their plate than tapping Afghanistan’s mineral wealth. There were women to be flogged into unconsciousness for teaching girls to read, petty thieves to be maimed and just oodles of folks to be beheaded for assorted naughtiness.
It was vaguely understood that there were substantial quantities of precious metals and such to be mined in Afghanistan, but nobody knew how substantial. In any event, the Taliban were having too much fun with their other priorities to bother pulling their countrymen out of Zimbabwe-grade poverty.
Recently, however, the U.S. military and American scientists conducted a survey that found Afghanistan is practically swimming in copper, iron, gold and the like — a cool trillion dollars’ worth. Thanks to the big spenders in Washington, we have a nifty way to put that mammoth figure in perspective: It is roughly two-thirds of this year’s U.S. budget deficit. (USA! USA!)
Some have since estimated Afghanistan’s underground goodies may be in the $3 trillion range, and jubilant Afghan officials are negotiating with foreign businesses to begin milking their newly corralled cash cow.