the mineral industries of afghanistan and pakistan 2000 2 1 by travis q lyday landlocked islamic state is an extremely poor country mainly because political upheaval civil strife war at least past two decades however has economic potential owing to considerable resources fossil fuels precious semiprecious gemstones additional include barite coal copper iron ore lead salt sulfur zinc destruction most torn s industrial infrastructure prohibited their exploitation economy was essentially agricultural which included subsistence farming livestock raising sheep goats in late 1970s proven probable oil condensate reserves were estimated be 95 million barrels apart from gas have been about 400 metric tons mbendi information services undated profile accessed july 17 2001 url http www co za land as af p0005 htm its strategic geographical position a transit route for cental asian hydrocarbons arabian sea this includes proposed multibillion dollar
