Just recently, the Pentagon announced that Afghanistan possesses vast mineral reserves, including iron ore, copper, cobalt, gold and even lithium. Wow! Talk about fantastic luck, this is like America winning $1 trillion in the Afghan lottery. Sure those resources may, technically, be the property of Afghanistan but, then again, we just happen to be the caretakers of that nation; that would seem to give us the responsibility to "manage" them, would it not?
If we previously could not find a reason for invading and occupying that country, it now becomes very easy to explain. We can say that we are there for the purpose of helping the people of Afghanistan to develop these newfound resources and to, most importantly, guarantee that no opportunistic, unscrupulous nation is allowed to come in and take them for its own. Our government will certainly be commended for undertaking such an honorable, humanitarian task.
But there is actually more to this story. These resources were not just recently discovered as the reports out of the Pentagon would have us believe. Actually, the Russians, who had invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 1979, made this discovery. Then after they were expelled from Afghanistan by those dreaded insurgents who had decided to protect their nation from invaders, the issue just died out until 2007 when the U.S. Geological Survey, after a thorough study, confirmed their existence.
This discovery appears to be an excellent justification for America to stay in Afghanistan almost indefinitely; after all, we simply cannot let these backward, uncivilized people develop these rich resources by themselves, can we? Of course not; that would not be the honorable thing to do, and so we must stay. And this situation gets even better as some experts indicate that the projected value could be as high as $3 trillion; if that's true, the U.S. must never, ever leave Afghanistan.
However, these riches in Afghanistan are just one part of the overall plan to eventually establish control over the entire Central Asian region that also has immense stores of critical resources, including oil and natural gas. The U.S. cannot allow Russia, China, Iran or any other nation to establish a controlling interest in that region of the world. And that is why America will let no nation or obstacle stand in the way of its ambitious military expansion into Central Asia.
The role of the U.S. military has changed dramatically since World War II. Since that time it has steadily evolved from a defensive force to protect the people of America from attack by some invading nation to a military force that initiates offensive actions in many parts of the world. In other words, the Defense Department has now become the Offense Department. And, under today's world conditions, this military force is taking the lead in what now is commonly referred to as America's resource wars.
These resource wars represent a new chapter in America's military history. Why must our military be involved in resource wars? It's because America has arrived at the point that it can no longer sustain its collapsing economy that has been stripped of its manufacturing base by transnational corporations that have outsourced millions of jobs overseas. Our monumental debt, our crumbling infrastructure, our deteriorating education system and the rapidly approaching bankruptcy of our states has America on the ropes. So what is the long term answer to our critical problems? It's Central Asia and its fabulous stores of critical resources.
Anyone who thinks that the U.S. will, voluntarily, withdraw a sizable portion of its military forces from either Iraq and the Middle East, or Afghanistan and Central Asia, just doesn't get it. There is no way that America is going to walk away from those two regions of the world that contain the majority of the world's remaining resources. That is simply not going to happen.
Has America descended to the level that we as a nation have now become convinced that it is our right to invade and occupy other sovereign nations on the pretext of some dire threat to us, and then take over control over their valuable resources? Can these aggressive military actions be justified in any way? Could it be that we have become very comfortable with such actions; that we have accepted these resource wars as a necessity to assure that we do not run out of petroleum and other sources of energy here in America?
The lockstep march of the military and corporate America continues: James Risen's report, NY Times, June 17. "A few high-risk investors are sufficiently intrigued by the country's (Afghanistan) potential to take an early look. JP Morgan, for instance, has just sent a team of mining experts to Afghanistan to examine possible projects to develop." And also, "Afghanistan could be one of the leading producers of copper, gold, lithium and iron ore in the world," said Ian Hannam, a London-based banker and mining expert with JP Morgan. "I believe this has the potential to be transforming for Afghanistan." (And without a doubt, the U.S.).
We'll see how this all works out. We are now witnessing how America's resource wars are being conducted with the military and corporations working together to take control of a nation's resources and then reaping the benefits. First the military does the heavy work and establishes a presence in a country; then tens of thousands of private contractors work with it to stabilize and pacify the population. Then opportunistic corporations such as JP Morgan move in to take control of the resources. Quite a lucrative business plan, wouldn't you say? Well, since America can't manufacture much anymore or do much of anything to add real value to the GDP, these kinds of ventures are becoming the primary business of our nation.
The major impediment to this ambitious plan in Afghanistan just happens to be the Taliban who, you can bet, aren't going to buy into it. We should remember that every previous invading nation has been sent packing in humiliation; therefore, the military/corporate business plan involving these resources would seem to have a very low probability of success. But, just as happened in Vietnam, our visionary "Peace President" and our military leaders will continue to escalate this unwinnable war no matter how many lives of our troops must be needlessly sacrificed or how much destruction is brought upon Afghanistan and Pakistan and its people.
The Pentagon is using this discovery of mineral reserves to further convince the American people that wars are necessary for the survival of America and, therefore, they can be justified. It is masterful at feeding this kind of devious justification for war into the American mind. I will say just this. If the people of America once again buy into believing this claptrap - that war is really not all that bad and has its rewards, then the future of America will be meaningless and irrelevant.
Michael Payne
