Japan Given Afghanistan Priority Mining Rights
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Tropic Post
Lyn Thomas
06/21/2010
Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, said that Japan, not the U.S., takes priority over other nations when it comes to mining his country's new found vast mineral deposits."Morally Afghanistan should give access as a priority to those countries that have helped Afghanistan massively in the past few years," said Karzai. He said Japan's status as Afghanistan's second- biggest donor, after the United States, should allow Japan to enjoy special access to Afghan resources, with estimated values that range between 1-3 trillion dollars.Karzai made this public announcement during a five-day visit to Japan. He thanked the Japanese leader for his support and said the Afghan government is working to fight corruption.He planned to visit the Japanese trading company, Mitsubishi Corporation, to discuss mining investment. Karzai said he was concerned about a looming international battle over his country's untapped mineral wealth.A New York Times analysis suggests that the vast majority of Afghans do not share Karzai's optimism about the deposits. Challenges include a lack of infrastructure and security, with some of the deposits located in Taliban strongholds."Countries with a history of conflict have perverse effects from mineral wealth — more war, more corruption, less democracy and more inequality," said Terry Lynn Karl, a political science professor at Stanford and the author of "The Paradox of Plenty," which shows how the populations of poor countries like Nigeria often get poorer after oil is discovered and a tiny elite benefits.At the same time as Karzai's announcement, news reports surfaced that Afghanistan and Pakistan planned to negotiate with Pakistan-based insurgents, the Haqqani's militia.The talks are a reminder that both Afghanistan and Pakistan each have an agenda independent of its relationship with the United States and that they may draw different lines in deciding how and when to make peace.American military deaths in Afghanistan total 1,103. In May 2010, the total cost of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq surpassed $1 trillion, according to National Priorities Project's Cost of War.
