Economics and Irregular Warfare

[davidbfpo]

Steve,

IIRC the Afghan gas and oil fields were heavily reduced during the Soviet intervention, even to the point they had been exhausted. What is the current state of those fields? I have not looked any further.

[tequila]

AFP - Afghanistan sitting on a gold mine

USGS - Assessment of Undiscovered Petroleum Resources of Northern Afghanistan

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey–Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Industry Joint Oil and Gas Resource Assessment Team estimated mean volumes of undiscovered petroleum in northern Afghanistan; the resulting estimates are 1,596 million barrels of crude oil, 15,687 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 562 million barrels of natural gas liquids. Most of the undiscovered crude oil is in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and most of the undiscovered natural gas is in the Amu Darya Basin.

Afghanistan has quite a bit of mineral wealth that, in the absence of conflict, could bring it a reasonable resource base for development. Of course that would require ending the insurgency so that investors would feel comfortable expending the billions required to get at it, and an Afghan government that could avoid the resource curse.