Fox News: It has been dubbed Afghanistan’s Green Zone: A pocket of paradise amid the bloody, conflict-ravaged country — both a hidden gem and full of gems. Specifically, they are world-class emeralds seemingly just waiting to be mined. Located some 80 miles along a snaking road northeast of Kabul via Bagram, the Panjshir Valley boasts stark
Media Matters: Prince: “We Should Fight With The East India Company Model And Do It Much Cheaper” The president needs to appoint one person in charge in Afghanistan. We’ve been through 17 commanders in 15 years. That’s not even counting the ambassadors and all the other officials. There’s a trillion dollars of value in the ground. Mining —
VOA News May 12, 2017 China is extending its Belt and Road Initiative to include Afghanistan. The development plan refers to the historic Silk Road between China and the West. It aims to link more than 60 countries from Asia to Europe, through land and maritime trade routes. Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced the plan
Tolo News: Mohammad Rustam Raghi, governor of Badakhshan’s Raghistan district, said on Friday the Taliban is making three million AFs per month from the Raghistan Gold Mine and the money gets divided among 30 armed anti-government groups. “Taliban has divided Raghistan Gold Mine among 30 groups and every group earns 100,000 AFs per month. Taliban then
Associated Press: The Afghan government is trying to grab the attention of President Donald Trump and gain greater U.S. support by dangling its massive and untouched wealth of minerals, including lithium, the silvery metal used in mobile phone and computer batteries that is considered essential to modern life. Click here to read more (external link). Related
Politico: When Donald Trump said in late January that America should have “kept the oil” after invading Iraq — “To the victor go the spoils,” he declared — foreign governments were horrified. But one country is now actively promoting its natural resources to win Trump’s attention for its desperate cause: Afghanistan. The government, led by President
Khaama Press: The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump vowed support under his upcoming administration to help unearth Afghanistan’s massive natural resources which include some of the world’s rare earth elements. Trump made the commitment during a telephone conversation with the Afghan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani. Click here to read more (external link).
The Diplomat: Pakistan and Iran have always had historical claims over the water resources of Afghanistan. These claims have always been rejected by Afghanistan. The chaotic politics of water between Afghanistan and its neighbors has a long history, due to the lack of water-sharing agreements between them. Despite sharing 90 percent of its water resources with
ReliefWeb: “Water is the lifeblood of the people of Afghanistan, not just for living but also for the economy, which has traditionally been dominated by agriculture.” Nearly “80% of Afghanistan’s population derive their livelihood from the agriculture sector.” And, agriculture remains one of Afghanistan’s principal growth sectors. But, decades of conflict combined with deteriorating infrastructures and