US finds mineral riches in Afghanistan - really, they were on patrol and stumbled across mineral riches?

SHOOT: Well might as well use 'em, right. I mean if you invade a country you have the rights to use their resources? No the resources lie behind the real motive for the invasion, same applies to Iraq. Why else would an Empire have any interest in a far flung fleabitten state like Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest countries.

clipped from news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON – A team of U.S. geologists and Pentagon officials has discovered vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan, conceivably enough to turn the scarred and impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centers, The New York Times reports. "There is stunning potential here," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in a report published Monday. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant." Americans discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium, according to the report. The Times quoted a Pentagon memo as saying Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and cell phones. The mineral resources are a "massive opportunity," Karzai said