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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)