India matches China's $3B investment in copper by investing $14B in iron ore
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 12:01AM 
WSJ story from 30 Nov.
India consortium of firms makes winning $14B investment bid on Afghanistan's largest iron-ore deposit, called by experts the crown "jewel" of the country's estimated $1T in minerals.
Supposed to take five years to get mine up and running. Canadian firm got the fifth block, as the Indian crew won the other four.
This award comes just a couple months after New Delhi and Kabul signed a strategic cooperation agreement.
Article makes the usual noises about Pakistan getting unnerved, but I think this is great - and totally natural. China and India making big investments and ultimately owning the security responsibility surrounding those investments.
To date, China's done nothing with the Aynak copper site, it is reported, due to security concerns. Chinese companies now projecting a 2014 start date.
Bet that gets moved up once NATO troops move out sooner.
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Reader Comments (2)
And the moral of the story is........
The US shouldn't really be involved in landlocked Central Asia.
India AND China investing in Afghanistan--a very interessting story.I don´t believe that Indian and Chinese troops could replace NATO troops in Afghanistan, but both countries could try to promote a diplomatic solution in Afghanistan which includes the interest of Pakistan.In 2014 all NATO troops will be withdrawn.There is already a SCO Contact Group for Afghanistan and the SCO thinks about including India and Pakistan.At the same time I read articles of the Brookings Institution which promote a cooperation between SCO and NATO.There is another article at the Brookings Institution to make Russia a NATO-ally.This means: How can India, China, Pakistan, Russia ,the SCO and NATO prevent that Afghanistan won´t become a hot spot for an ever-enduring civil war.