Despite the palpable excitement in the Times’ front-page “Afghanistan has so many minerals!” story today, the existence of such resources has been known for years, even decades. So why present it as a new, game-changing discovery? To remind “the Chinese, the Russians, the Pakistanis, and the Americans” about the stubbornly war-torn and unstable nation’s “potential bright future,” suggests the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder. [Atlantic]
