Karzai Gives Japan Priority Claims To Mineral Rights

Once again, Obama's gratuitous disrespect of an ally is costing the United States dearly.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said this week that Japan — not the U.S. — takes priority over other nations when it comes to mining his people’s vast mineral deposits.

Karzai made his proclamation during a five-day visit to Japan. Over that same time period, news reports surfaced that Afghanistan and Pakistan plotted to negotiate with U.S.-NATO enemies, the U.N. reported that insurgent violence is surging, and Reuters tried to parse the Pentagon’s diverse messages over U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

During an appearance at Japan’s International Institute for International Affairs, Karzai focused on his people’s mineral deposits. He Keen to Japan’s status as Afghanistan’s second-largest donor, and reasoned that Japan should delight in special access to Afghan resources with estimated values that range from $1-3 trillion dollars.

“Morally, Afghanistan should give access as a priority to those countries that have helped Afghanistan massively in the past few years,” Karzai told the institute.

“What . . . we have to return with is this opportunity of mineral resources, that we must return at the goodwill of the Japanese people by giving Japan priority to come and explore and extract,” Karzai said.

Looking to the future, Karzai echoed an internal Pentagon memo and said that the mining will define Afghanistan, “While Saudi Arabia is the oil hub of the world, Afghanistan will be the lithium hub of the world…. And Japan is salutation to participate in the lithium exploration in Afghanistan.”