Welcome, everybody. Good afternoon. Im michelle. Im the cofound sxwrer ceo for the center for new american security, c dmch23467 cnas. Were delighted you could join us today. As we were thinking of the president ial transition we thought it was important to put together some papers for the next president before we knew who that president would be. Really recommending a way forward that would protect and advance american interests on any number of topics. And it seemed to us that afghanistan as a war that continues 16 years on that this was a key area where administration would have to grapple with u. S. Strategy, objectives and the way forward for the campaign. And so we commissioned Chris Columba whos a cnas senior adjunct fellow here, to lead the development of the report. Chris is now president and ceo of the strategic leadership group. Hes also a former military officer, four times in afghanistan, once commanding an airborne Infantry Task force in Kunar Nuristan which pioneered a n
Welcome, everybody. Good afternoon. Im michelle. Im the cofound sxwrer ceo for the center for new american security, c dmch23467 cnas. Were delighted you could join us today. As we were thinking of the president ial transition we thought it was important to put together some papers for the next president before we knew who that president would be. Really recommending a way forward that would protect and advance american interests on any number of topics. And it seemed to us that afghanistan as a war that continues 16 years on that this was a key area where administration would have to grapple with u. S. Strategy, objectives and the way forward for the campaign. And so we commissioned Chris Columba whos a cnas senior adjunct fellow here, to lead the development of the report. Chris is now president and ceo of the strategic leadership group. Hes also a former military officer, four times in afghanistan, once commanding an airborne Infantry Task force in Kunar Nuristan which pioneered a n
How Afghanistan’s President Helped His Brother Secure Lucrative Mining Deals with a U.S. Contractor
This article was written by our Investigator Zack Kopplin and was originally published here.
Afghanistan’s crags and valleys hold at least a trillion dollars’ worth of minerals, first mapped by Soviet geologists in the 1970s. Local warlords and foreign powers have plundered these deposits ever since.
The Taliban and other armed groups have battled both the central government and each other for control of the mines, using them to fund their insurgencies. Even former U.S. President Donald Trump coveted Afghanistan’s gold, lithium, uranium, and other mineral riches. In 2017, Trump was persuaded to keep troops in the country by its president, Ashraf Ghani, who dangled the prospect of mining contracts for American companies.