Lithium Den: Will Afghanistan Get Hooked on a New Narcotic?

摘要

Now those Afghan tribes really have something to fight over-other than poppy plants, that is. In case you haven't heard, an estimated $1 trillion in untapped natural resources (iron, copper, gold, and lithium, among others) has been discovered in impoverished Afghanistan. That may seem like a stroke of luck for a country desperately in need of one. However, the research about resource wealth in the post-World War II period suggests that it's actually a curse, unless Afghanistan can do two things. One is incorporate property rights into any new governance structures. The other is to emulate another resource-rich country, Botswana. (More about that later.)