Impoverished Afghans look to exploit wealth below their feet

Afghanistan plans to put four or five oil and gas extraction and minerals mining projects out to tender for development this year, as the strife-ridden country reaches out to investors to help develop its vast resources.

The projects involves the exploration and development of oil, natural gas, iron ore, copper and gold, the country's minister of mines, Wahidullah Shahrani, said last week.

"We plan to put out tenders in two new basins for oil and gas exploration this year and two more next year or 2015," he said. "Afghanistan has the potential to be more than self-sufficient in oil and gas."

Afghanistan aims to raise the contribution of the resources industry to the nation's economic output to 45 per cent by 2024, up from 3 per cent last year, Shahrani said.

The nation, which has suffered decades of strife since the 1970s, also plans to put one or two lithium and rare earth projects out to tender this year, he said. The minerals are used by battery and electronic product manufacturers.

While the country is one of the poorest in the world judged by gross domestic product per capita, the US Geological Survey estimated in 2010 that Afghanistan's mineral resources were worth some US$1 trillion.

But underdeveloped infrastructure, corruption and security problems have kept most Western firms away from investing in the nation, leaving Chinese and Indian state-backed firms as Afghanistan's biggest infrastructure builders and resources developers.