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A virtually unexplored wilderness that size with that varied a geology must certainly have been considered a prime prospect for mineral wealth. The Soviets must have guessed it before they went in, I'm sure they weren't there just to bring the benefits of socialism to Afghan burkha babes.

At any rate, they documented it, and soonthe information got to the West
(we prospected in 2006, and we've known about this at least since 2004, maybe even 2001). We even made it a point to do some extensive aerial surveys while the war was still raging. Apparently the Chinese have been well informed, too.

In fact, everyone involved seems to have known about this except the American public. I wonder why it's being leaked out now.

My opinion is that a lot of people knew about this, but everyone involved had a motive to keep it quiet. Potential investors didn't want to see a lot of interest driving prices up even before any serious surveys could begin. They wanted an edge on the competition. The Americans who had plenty of other good reasons to be there, did not want to be accused of going in just for the mineral wealth, like they were accused (with some justification) in Iraq. I'd be willing to bet potential partners in this mineral exploitation were offered an "in" if they were willing to "help out" in the war. In fact, the potential of these deposits was probably exaggerated to them! Today, with opposition to the war mounting on the home front, this information, properly managed in the right venues, could be used to generate domestic support. Many of these suspicions are also hinted at in the second source you linked to.

None of this should surprise anyone, this is how the Great Game has always been played. In fact, we'd be fools if we didn't play it that way as well. Only the kids on the field play for their school, honor and sportsmanship, but there's always some really serious betting going on in the back room.

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