Mineral Resource Team 2010 Activities Summary
Abstract
The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations was formed by the U.S. Department of Defense in 2006 to leverage American and international economic power as a strategic tool for promoting economic stabilization. Since then, the Task Force's mission has been to reduce violence, enhance stability, and restore economic normalcy in areas where unrest and insurgency have created a synchronous downward spiral of economic hardship and violence. The Task Force initiates every new program and project with the assumption that the absence of a viable economic base is one of the primary factors which has historically led to state failure. When starting operations in Afghanistan in 2009, the Task Force began by asking the question: What are the indigenous resources the Afghan people can use to create such a viable economic base, thereby ensuring Afghan economic sovereignty? With a nominal gross domestic product of just over $10 billion, much attributed to foreign assistance, Afghanistan needs industries that produce sustainable wealth, create jobs, and reduce the country's overreliance on international donors to fund its treasury and armed services. In the summer of 2009, the Task Force assessed many critical sectors of the Afghan economy. One of the Task Force assessment's key findings was that the untold mineral wealth lying beneath the ground in Afghanistan could provide the very foundation needed for modern, thriving communities above it.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 29, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA545347
Entities
Organizations
- United States Department of Defense