US President Donald Trump is eyeing Afghanistan’s mineral wealth to help pay for a 16-year war and reconstruction efforts that have already cost $117-billion. Investors who have studied the country, one of the world’s most dangerous, say that is a pipe dream. Ever since a United States Geological Survey study a decade ago identified deposits later estimated to have a potential value of as much as $1-trillion, both Afghan and foreign officials have trumpeted the reserves as a likely key to economic independence for Afghanistan.
