Plundering Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth: The Taliban Has Signed Nearly 200 Mining Contracts in Three Years

RASC News Agency: A French media outlet reported on Wednesday that over the past three years, the Taliban has signed nearly 200 mining contracts worth billions of dollars with Chinese, Turkish, Iranian, and predominantly local companies. The report highlights that the “absence of technical expertise and chronic mismanagement” pose significant obstacles to the Taliban’s ambitions, as the group seeks to attract domestic and foreign investment under the pretense of ensuring security for mining operations. Estimates by the United States and the United Nations place the total value of Afghanistan’s natural resources at approximately $1 trillion, encompassing vast deposits of emeralds, rubies, marble, gold, and lithium, buried deep within the country’s rugged terrain.
Javid Noorani, a mining expert, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the Taliban has signed contracts exceeding its administrative capacity by more than tenfold, a miscalculation that could result in severe governance failures. Similarly, Homayoun Afghan, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines, acknowledged the group’s lack of technical expertise as a fundamental challenge. Speaking to AFP, he admitted: “We have no specialists, no infrastructure, and no technical knowledge.” Despite these glaring deficiencies, he asserted that Taliban authorities are open to any investor willing to engage, particularly those with prior mining experience. However, experts caution that many of these agreements remain in the exploratory phase, and their eventual realization could take years offering limited economic returns.
Despite international sanctions and the Taliban’s diplomatic isolation, several nations including China, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Qatar have actively sought investment opportunities in Afghanistan’s mining sector. Among them, China has emerged as the most influential player, securing a series of high-profile contracts, including copper and gold extraction deals. Chinese enterprises are swiftly consolidating their dominance over Afghanistan’s mineral wealth. Reports indicate that the state-owned Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) has restarted operations at the Aynak Copper Mine, which holds the world’s second-largest copper reserves.
Since assuming power in August 2021, the Taliban has aggressively pursued the extraction of Afghanistan’s subterranean resources, making mining one of its principal revenue streams. However, despite the large-scale exploitation of these reserves, the economic dividends have failed to reach ordinary Afghanistanis who have only grown poorer under Taliban rule.