U.S. Knew About Afghan Mineral Bonanza in 2007

Paul Jay @ The Huffington Post - The New York Times reported on Sunday, June 13, 2010 "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. The previously unknown deposits -- including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium -- are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe."

According to the NYT story, "an internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys."

The problem is, what the NYT describes as "beyond any previously known reserves" and "the previously unknown deposits", were in fact quite well known -- in 2007, well before President Obama made the fateful decision to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. Read more.