The concern of the Afghan government is a peaceful transition to an Afghanistan that does not use killing to maintain fear and a divided loyalty to the country.
By Mujib Mashal
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, centre, speaks to US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, third left, at the presidential palace in Kabul on Monday.
Kabul: American and Taliban officials (click here) have agreed in principle to the framework of a deal in which the insurgents would guarantee to prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists, and that could lead to a full pullout of US troops in return for larger concessions from the Taliban, the chief US negotiator said Monday.
American envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said those concessions must include the Taliban agreeing to a cease-fire and agreeing to talk directly with the Afghan government, issues that the insurgents have doggedly opposed in the past.
"We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement," Khalilzad said in an interview in Kabul. "The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals."
He added: "We felt enough confidence that we said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out."...
...A senior Taliban official confirmed the draft agreement on the issue of foreign troop withdrawal and that the Taliban pledge that Afghan soil would not be used against others. He said "working groups" would iron out details on the timeline of the withdrawal....
..."We want peace quickly, we want it soon, but we want it with prudence," Ghani said. "Prudence is important so we do not repeat past mistakes."...
Afghanistan has become interesting for many powers in the world. The Taliban while important to peace really isn't significant to a larger picture.One of the reasons the USA military has been content to maintain a presence in Afghanistan is it's strategic location. It is central to Pakistan, a nuclear country; Iran, a proclaimed enemy by Trump; India, an ally in chronic conflict along it's Pakistan border and in Kashmir and a neighbor to China; the former Soviet countries of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are all of concern to the USA. To the north of these three former Soviet countries is Russia. Of course, there is the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. All these countries and regions surrounding Afghanistan are of concern to the USA military.
When the USA leaves there will be capitalists highly interested in the minerals in the Afghanistan mountains. Finally, Afghanistan has a chance to have an economy different than poppies.
The economic expansion of Afghanistan demands warring parties stop their warring. I don't believe the ideologues, like the Taliban, care about the wealth in the mountains of Afghanistan and for all anyone knows there is some mining that exists that might even benefit the Taliban and perhaps the remnants of Daesh. But, as far as international concerns, currently no one expects the Taliban to be an issue after the USA leaves, because Russia and/or China will not tolerate any interference in their interests in mining.
Basically, China and/or Russia in their friendship pack, will bring about killing the interference they confront when seeking to mine the Afghan mountains. Those mountains, by the way, are their own enemy when it comes to climate and the removal of any objects mined. I haven't been in a mine in the deep winter of Afghanistan, but, they can probably be made warm enough to allow miners to be warm enough. However, removing tailings and minerals encased in rock to the harsh elements outside the mine is an entirely different story.
June 5, 2016
The mines of the rugged northeastern province of Badakhshan (click here) are one of the richest assets of the Afghan people, an extraordinary national treasure that should be a powerful resource for development.
Instead, as a two-year investigation reveals, they are a major source of conflict and grievance, supply millions of dollars of funding to armed groups, insurgents, and strongmen, and provide a tiny fraction of the benefit they should to the Afghan people. Without a coherent response, these mines – and others like them across Afghanistan – represent not just a lost opportunity, but a threat to the whole country....
Besides all the hostilities of the region that inhibit economic progress of the country of Afghanistan there are the chronic earthquakes. (click here)
| Time | Mag. / Depth | Location | Map | Source |
| Sat, 26 Jan | ||||
| Sat, 26 Jan 13:39 UTC | M 4.8 / 210 km - [info] | Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan I FELT IT |  | GFZ |
| Tue, 22 Jan | ||||
| Tue, 22 Jan 04:33 UTC | M 3.5 / 10 km - [info] | - 4km SSW of Boshkengash, Tajikistan I FELT IT | ||
So, when the USA military assesses the reasons to leave Afghanistan they don't see any. While the USA military likes to point to better quality of life of the people of Afghanistan, that can be disputed. However, in disputing that fact, there is the reality that if the USA leaves, the Afghan people may not be any better off if there is no overriding moral authority that can hold the line on killings. If the USA leaves, will Afghanistan finally have a lasting peace or will the anarchy return with a vengeance? The countries that settle in the mountains for a feast of greed for minerals will seek to push the killing fields out of the mountains and into the cities that have no reason to entertain mines.
The current authorities of Afghanistan will have their hands full in maintaining a stable military to uphold the government. If the Afghanistan government falls after the USA is completely out of the way, the wealth of the mountains will never reach the people of Afghanistan and the poverty will return with no end in sight.
When I think of the Lapis mines, I think of Haqqani (click here).
The lapis mines are in the Badakhshan region, once one of the more stable areas in Afghanistan, even at the height of Taliban control. However, violent competition for control of the lucrative mines and their revenue, between local strong men, local MPs and the Taliban has deeply destabilised the province and made it one of the hotbeds of the insurgency. With the Taliban on the outskirts of the mines themselves, as well as controlling key roads into the mining areas, there is now a real risk that the mines could fall into their hands....
Lapis is a really obvious rock. It is easy to mine by crude methods.
18 March 2018
By Tamin Hamid
A suspected gem stone smuggler (click here) has said mines in Badakhshan’s Karan-o-Manjan district, especially those extracting Lapis Lazuli, are out of government’s control and are being mined illegally.
Speaking to TOLOnews, the man from Keshm district in Badakhshan, said he turned to smuggling after losing all his money in the construction sector three years ago.
The smuggler, who was recently apprehended by border forces at Torkham while carrying almost three kilograms of Lapis Lazuli to Pakistan, said he has smuggled a large amount of gemstones from Karan-o-Manjan mines.
The 43-year-old man said he takes them to Peshawar in Pakistan where he sells them.
“If you go to Peshawar, you can see trucks full of these stones, that have crossed at Torkham because the stones cannot be transported by air,” said the smuggler.
He said that the mines in Karan-o-Manjan district are mostly under the control of local mafia....
The making of Lapis jewelry can be crude as well. Some are very sophisticated.
This is on Etsy (click here).
Could the illegally mined Afghanistan Lapis be the next Blood Diamond?
Lapis is a really obvious rock. It is easy to mine by crude methods.
By Tamin Hamid
A suspected gem stone smuggler (click here) has said mines in Badakhshan’s Karan-o-Manjan district, especially those extracting Lapis Lazuli, are out of government’s control and are being mined illegally.
Speaking to TOLOnews, the man from Keshm district in Badakhshan, said he turned to smuggling after losing all his money in the construction sector three years ago.
The smuggler, who was recently apprehended by border forces at Torkham while carrying almost three kilograms of Lapis Lazuli to Pakistan, said he has smuggled a large amount of gemstones from Karan-o-Manjan mines.
The 43-year-old man said he takes them to Peshawar in Pakistan where he sells them.
“If you go to Peshawar, you can see trucks full of these stones, that have crossed at Torkham because the stones cannot be transported by air,” said the smuggler.
He said that the mines in Karan-o-Manjan district are mostly under the control of local mafia....
The making of Lapis jewelry can be crude as well. Some are very sophisticated.This is on Etsy (click here).
Could the illegally mined Afghanistan Lapis be the next Blood Diamond?
