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Mining contracts could help Afghanistan develop, but they could also hurt its people if they are mismanaged.

Installations used by Chinese excavators and engineers are seen at a copper mine in Mes Aynak, Logar province February 14, 2015. China and Afghanistan remain deadlocked over a stalled $3 billion copper mine five months after Beijing demanded royalties be slashed by almost a half, underlining Kabul's struggles to support itself as foreign aid dries up. The copper, lying beneath the ancient Buddhist ruins of Mes Aynak, is one of the world's largest untapped deposits. But the project has been mired in delays since state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC) won the contract to develop it in 2007. Resurgent Taliban insurgents have tightened control over the area around Aynak, and after threats, rocket attacks and the risk of land mines, MCC withdrew its Chinese workers from the heavily guarded copper camp last year. And then there are the Buddhist ruins. Archeological work to preserve treasures from the crumbling monastries and stupas is dangerous and slow, and must be finished before mining can begin. Picture taken on February 14, 2015. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

Afghanistan’s copper deposits can alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people and help the world’s green transition.

** ADVANCE FOR USE MONDAY, FEB. 14, 2011 AND THEREAFTER ** In this photograph made on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, men work on the excavation of a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The archaeological dig is located at the world's second-biggest unexploited copper mine. The Chinese government-backed mining company, China Metallurgical Group Corp., which won the contract to exploit the site, has given archaeologists three years to finish the excavations. Afghanistan's vast mineral wealth is no secret. Mining companies, both Afghan and foreign, have already shown interest in some of the country's rich resources, notably copper, iron ore and oil. But with poor infrastructure and a security situation that is precarious at best _ and downright prohibitive in some parts of the country _ there has been a limit to how much the country can hope to make, in the medium term at least. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)