Afghanistan
Resources.
Mineral resources.
Extensive surveys have revealed the existence of a number of
minerals of economic importance. The most important discovery
has been that of natural gas, with large reserves near Sheberghan
in
Jowzjan province, near the Turkmen border,
about 75 miles west of
Mazar-e Sharif.
The
Khvajeh Gugerdak and
Yatim Taq fields
are major producers, with storage and refining facilities. Pipelines
deliver natural gas to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and to a thermal
power plant and chemical fertilizer plant in Mazar-e
Sharif.
Petroleum resources have proved to be insignificant. Many coal
deposits have been found in the northern slopes of the Hindu
Kush. Major coal fields are at
Karkar and
Eshposhteh, in Baghlan
province, and
Fort Sarkari,
in Balkh province.
High-grade iron ore, with an iron content of 62-63 percent,
has been discovered at
Hajigak,
60 miles northwest of Kabul. Copper is mined at 'Aynak, near
Kabul, and uranium is extracted in the mountains near Khvajeh
Rawash, east of Kabul. There are also deposits of copper,
lead, and zinc near Konduz; beryllium in Khas
Konar; chrome ore in the Lowgar valley near Herat;
and the semiprecious stone lapis lazuli in Badakhshan.
Afghanistan also has deposits of rock salt, beryl, barite, fluorspar,
bauxite, lithium, tantalum, gold, silver, asbestos, mica, and
sulfur.
Biological resources.
Afghanistan is essentially a pastoral country. Only 12 percent
of the total land area is arable, and only about half of the
arable acreage is cultivated annually. Much of the arable area
consists of fallow cultivable land or steppes and mountains
that serve as pastureland. In addition, a large area is desert.
Forests cover about 3 percent of the total land area; they
are found mainly in the eastern part of the country and on the
southern slopes of the Hindu Kush. Those in the east consist
mainly of conifers, providing timber for the building industry
as well as some wild nuts for export. Other trees, especially
oaks, are used as fuel. North of the Hindu Kush are pistachio
trees, the nuts of which are exported.
Power resources.
Afghanistan is potentially rich in hydroelectric resources.
However, the seasonal flow of the country's many streams and
waterfalls--torrential in spring, when the snow melts in the
mountains, but negligible in summer--necessitates the costly
construction of dams and reservoirs in remote areas. The nation's
negligible demand for electricity renders such projects unprofitable
except near large cities or industrial centres. The potential
of hydroelectricity has been tapped substantially only in the
Kabul-Jalalabad region.
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