[sergeantdave]

“So is Putin going to make a deal with Karzai to fund his government in return for mineral rights...”

Explain to everyone which mineral rights. Looking forward to your response...

[hinckley buzzard]

http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/minerals

[dblshot]

I remember reading somewhere about China's stockpiling of rare earth minerals and the strategic impacts of that. Google Afghanistan and rare earth minerals and there a a lot of articles on that. I guess I should have typed, in return for rare earth mineral rights to be more precise. Here is one good link on subject..
http://www.american.com/archive/2013/august/afghanistans-rare-earth-element-bonanza