Pashtun Resources

[Manzareh]

What resources/products do we have in our Pashtun areas, be it FATA or AFG that is exclusively available to Pashtuns, is there any?

[Haris]

Most of the natural resources in Afghanistan are to the north but i'm sure there is some coal in Pakhtunkhwa along the border.

[Haris]

Some info here as well: http://snippits-and-slappits.blogspo...ghan-gold.html

It's updated too, 13th May

[emkhan]

yes swat Emerald is the third best Emerald in the world. Columbia comes first and Panjsher comes second.
Afghanistan and Pakhtunkhwa is a place which produce half of the world's best gemstones.
Imagine, half of the world's gemstones are only in this part of the world.

[khashayar]

Marble, gas, gems, water, guns.

[graveyardofempires]

stupid people always try to say as if north afghanistan doesnt belogn to Pashtuns.

Dont know much about pukhtunkhwa ,heard there is alot of gas.

in Afghanistan we have minerals in trillions of dollars and we also have water for electricity dams which also flows into pukhtunkhwa and on the other side its in helmand.

[Toramana]

Hi very nice Manzaray...Now this is a positive thread. Let us work on commonalties and potential of our people instead of focussing on some minor differences caused by colonial and imperial division of our land. I will give you the following list.

-Strategic importance (junction and land-bridge between South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East, and China)... Each of days regions are at most a day jouney from Pashtun land....

-Tourism: Mountains ranges like Hindukush, Karakorum, and Hamalyas, remains of Gandhara Civilization, forests, rivers, valleys, our own culture---all this combined with the strategic importance of our land...

-hydroelectric generating potential....our land is a slope and 6 rivers (Helmand, Kabul, Swat, Panjkora, Kunar, Indus) flow through it giving it a unique potential for generating huge quantities of hydroelectric power.

-Water---In Pashtun land either the headwaters of some rivers are located or it is upper reparian for some rivers. That gives it an opportunity of a substantial share in water resources of our land.

-gas: Huge deposits of natural gas in Karak and other districts of Pukhtunkhwa...there are some oil deposits as well.

-proximity to regions e.g. Turkaministan, Caspian, etc. with huge deposits of hydrocarbon resources.

- Tobbaco and sugar production (Peshawar Valley)

-Vegetables and Fruits: Our area is very suitable for producing certain fruits and vegetables. One foreign expert suggested the whole Malakand Division should be converted into a land for fruit production.

-Mineral resources---Marbles (huge deposits in Momand and Bunair), Uranuim, Copper, and a number of other minerals.

-Human resources: hardy population if it could be developed into skilled population.

[Toramana]

Moreover, there are large wathes of land in south Afghanistan and southern Pukhtunkhwa that need to be developed and brought under cultivation. For that we need proper water management strategies and share in water.

[Toramana]

Tourism (Pakhtunkhwa)

http://www.khyberpakhtunkhwa.gov.pk/...tion/index.php

"The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is rich with the world’s finest timber, marble, mineral deposits and huge water reservoirs for hydel power. The precious and semi-precious stones notably ruby, emeralds, aquamarine and topaz and other varieties and found in this Province have world-wide fame and are exported to foreign markets because of their lasting beauty and non-fading magic.

Today’s industrial progress and achievements within short span of time can be described as phenomenal. There are vast markets for investments in gemstones, minerals, hydel power projects, small, medium and large-scale industries, agriculture, tourism and other sectors."

http://kpcci.org.pk/Premsg.htm

[Toramana]

1) Dimension Stones: Classical Carbonate Marble mainly white and gray and other shades of marble in the province are black, pink and green.
2). Granites: A range of granites of dark and light coloured are abundantly available mainly in shades of green, gray, black, & pink.
3). Other rock varieties: Massive limestone, sand stones, slate, phyllite are also amenable to processing as substitute of marble and granite.

Estimated resource of marble in the province is about 3.0 billion tonne. Major occurrences are Chitral marble block having a potential of more than 1000 million tonne, Shangla par (Swat) marble of more than 200 million tonne, Buner marble belt having geological resources of 1400 million tonne and Swabi marble block of about 200 million tonne and Nowshera pink marble of about 100 million tonne.

Estimated resources of granite are available in billion of tonne. The potential occurrences of dark coloured granites, mostly with green shades, are more than 1000 million tonne and light coloured granite is more than 1000 million tonne.

Proposed sites for investment in dimension stones are Buner-Mardan white & sunny gray marble, Chitral white marble, Dir green Granite, Mansehra black granite and Shangla serpentinites.

Variety of Gemstones:


1). Pegmatite-hosted beryltourmalinetopaz-garnet, occurring within a linear belt of about 30 km in Chitral as well as in other localities.
2) Corundum/Ruby occurrences in Dir along a geological unite of amphibolites.
3) The Swat emeralds belt over a linear extension of more than 50 km. The known prospects of emeralds are rated to about 100 million carats.
4.) Crabonate-Hosted Topaz (pink, yellow, white and other shades), in Mardan Katlang area.
5). Metasediments-hosted Corundum (Ruby and Sapphire) in Kaghan-Naran valleys.

Industrial Rocks and Minerals:


1). Cement-grade limestones and clay in Dargai (Malakand Agency), Nowshera, Kohat-Lachi and Dera Ismail Khan. The resources are in billion of tonne.
2). Fertilizer-grade phosphate (22 million Tonne) in Hazara.
3). Glass and ceramic-grade nephline syenite and associated granitoids about (85 million tonne) in Buner.
4). Rock salt, gypsum and clay minerals in Kohat and Karak.
5). Other industrial minerals include soap stone, feldspar, dolomite, barite and graphite.

Metallic Minerals:


1). Iron literate near Nowshera (150 million tonne) in addition to 30 million tonne in Pezu D.I.Khan and 40 million tonne in Langrial, Hazara.
2). Mining and processing of Iron magnetite (one million tonne) at Domel Nissar in Chitral.
3). Small scale mining and processing operations on polymetallic lodes in Chitral and lead-zinc in Besham.
4). Chromite (one million tonne) in Malakand.
5). Deposit scale exploration of Mirkhani Copper gold prospects.
6). 33 identified targets of gold and base metals in Chitral, Malakand and Hazara regions.

Coal resources:


Coal seams of workable thickness occur mostly in the south and south western part of the province along a geological sequence in a linear belt of tens of km length.

http://investinpakistan.pk/portal/in...227&Itemid=263

[Toramana]

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Gas deposit : 4 trillion cubic feet
Oil: One billion barrels.

Hydroelectric power generation potential: 27000 Mega Watts KP alone whereas for the whole of Pakistan it is 40000 Mega Watts

In Afghanistan, in Kunar, along river Kabul, and Helmand, there seem to be big potential for hydroelectric power generation.

[faye]

oil, lithium, opium which could be used for pain killers.

[Toramana]

"Q: What do you think of America?
A: As far the USA, I think what the US is doing is understandable. It is just following what other powers throughout history have done in their dominance and control. To my mind, It is being pushed in its step by the super-power-psyche- that each dominant power tries its best to safeguard its dominance and weaken and defeat its enemies. You don’t let others take your seat that easily. You will always try to maintain your superiority and won’t happily relinquish it.

The USA may have transgressed in certain areas- it certainly did- but then you can blame the other side as well for the wrongs it has had committed."

http://tahirkatlang.wordpress.com/category/agriculture/

The guy above is very focussed on KP economy. Although, one cannot agree with him entirely but what he says has some substance. How aptly does he point to great-powers psyche. This is exactly the point I want to bring home when I have an argument with Barakzai, etc.

[Digital Malang]

Opium and pure Hashish.

[khashayar]

^ lol