{"id":26837,"date":"2015-02-23T22:19:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/?p=26837"},"modified":"2018-04-16T14:02:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T18:02:04","slug":"map-major-oil-mineral-concessions-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/map-major-oil-mineral-concessions-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Map: Major Oil & Mineral Concessions in Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

One thing is certain \u2013 the people of Afghanistan are sitting atop a literal gold mine of resource wealth, such that some estimates put the country\u2019s total mineral reserves well over $3 trillion. Yet the difficulties in realizing this windfall are numerous and daunting. Graft, lawlessness, and a lack of basic infrastructure have combined to keep these valuable resources in the ground since the NATO campaign of 2001.<\/p>\n

The high risk of operating in Afghanistan has left Western countries on the outside looking in as Chinese and Indian firms swept up some of the most lucrative concessions over the past five years. Yet the road to production has been a bumpy one. Two of the largest mining concessions \u2013 Aynak and Hajigak \u2013 have yet to begin operations, and oil extraction in the Amu Darya Basin has been excruciatingly slow.<\/p>\n

This all points to the troubling possibility that Afghanistan won\u2019t be able to replace aid with tax and royalty revenue moving forward. If projects as potentially lucrative as these are having trouble breaking ground, it speaks to the fact that the Afghan market is still – after over a decade of foreign aid and occupation – too insecure for some of the world\u2019s biggest players to operate in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Investment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Afghanistan\u2019s vast resource wealth is supposed to take over the reins of economic development when foreign aid dries up. But three of the biggest joint ventures in the country\u2019s mineral and energy sectors suggest that this won\u2019t be the case. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":26835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[1,29],"tags":[1275,1384,1387,1372,1338,1268],"series":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Geomon-Maps.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.geopoliticalmonitor.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":false,"audio_player":false,"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n