The Taliban regime in 2023 signed several mining and underground resource extraction contracts with domestic and foreign companies to increase its income. However, there are ambiguities regarding these contracts. Extraction of coal, oil, gold, precious and semi-precious stones, and some other mines continues under the Taliban regime. But what causes major concern is the non-technical extraction and “plundering” of mines.
The Taliban regime lacks global acceptance and is therefore striving to increase interactions and connections with neighboring and regional countries. The Taliban has specifically requested countries such as Qatar, China, and the Islamic Republic of Iran to invest in Afghanistan’s mining and underground resources. Taliban officials participating in international conferences have also called for foreign investment in Afghanistan’s mining and underground resources sector.
In 2023, the Taliban initiated a 25-year oil extraction agreement in the Amu Darya oil field with a Chinese company called “Shengli Jiang Central Asian Petroleum & Gas Company.” This Chinese company quickly began oil extraction from the Qashqari oil field in one of the oil-rich areas of Amu Darya in Sar-e Pol Province earlier this year. Initially, the extraction capacity was 59 tons of crude oil per day, but the Chinese company managed to increase the extraction volume.
Mohammad Yaqub Abdullah Akh, the Taliban governor in Sar-e Pol, stated in November that 650 to 900 tons of oil are extracted daily from 15 Qashqari oil wells, generating a daily income of $600,000. He emphasized that the number of oil extraction wells will increase in the future.
With the oil extraction agreement in the Amu Darya region, China and Chinese merchants have opened up to the extraction of Afghanistan’s mines and underground resources. The Taliban is keen on entrusting mines and underground resources to China voluntarily. They believe that China has the necessary capabilities to expedite the extraction of mines and, for this reason, can generate income from Afghanistan’s underground resources more quickly.
Negotiations between the Taliban and Chinese investors for the extraction of the Ainak copper mine are also ongoing to expedite the extraction operations. Last week, a meeting was held with the participation of Shoaib Alden, the Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Nuraldeen Aziz, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Hidayatullah Badri, the head of the Central Bank of the Taliban, regarding the extraction of the Ainak copper mine.
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China is highly interested in the extraction of lithium mines, which are precious mineral elements, and has also had discussions with the Taliban on this matter. Lithium has the capability to store electric energy and is used in the production of phone batteries, electric cars, laptops, and drones. The signing of mining extraction contracts with the Taliban regime, lacking national and global acceptance, has faced criticisms. Critics of the Taliban claim that China is “plundering” these mines.
After the extraction of oil from the Amu Darya region, the Taliban signed contracts in the production of cement and the extraction of emeralds, rubies, lapis lazuli, coal, and several other mines. The Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum claimed in July of this year that during its regime, more than 100 small and large mines had been licensed to non-governmental companies, and the process of mining extraction is ongoing.
The Taliban is eager to commence mining extraction operations, but the contracting of this group with domestic and foreign companies is not transparent, and few details about these contracts are made public. The Taliban has imposed severe censorship in the media and civil institutions, making it difficult to scrutinize mining contracts in the Taliban’s government. The previous government of Afghanistan had seen a growth in investigative reporting, but the Taliban do not believe in media freedom or freedom of expression. Defiance of Taliban orders for media residents of Afghanistan comes at the cost of imprisonment.
In June of this year, the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in a voice message in response to mining extraction and concluded mining extraction contracts, claimed that the Taliban had put Afghanistan’s natural resources up for “auction,” and that it was their historical responsibility. He emphasized, “the Taliban have neither the legitimacy nor the right to sell Afghanistan’s natural resources through secret deals, and neither do countries and foreign companies have the right to legitimize the plunder of the country’s resources.”
The Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum is led by Shoaib Alden. He was a negotiator with the U.S. in Qatar and was involved in the signing of the Doha peace agreement in February 2021. There are concerns about the presence of corruption in the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.
Amrullah Saleh, the former First Vice President of Afghanistan, claimed in August that $25 million of revenue from Afghanistan’s coal mines had disappeared during the Taliban regime, and preliminary investigations indicated the involvement of Shoaib Alden in this theft. He said that this “theft” occurred from the revenue of the coal mine in Samangan Province in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban have not expressed any views on this matter.
The Taliban, through military means in August 2021, managed to take over Afghanistan. This group is accused of disproportionate power grip and violation of civil rights, especially women’s rights. No country has recognized the Taliban regime officially. Therefore, signing contracts for mining extraction in Afghanistan is not legal or legitimate and will not have any enforceability after the overthrow of the Taliban regime.
Afghanistan is facing a severe economic crisis, and millions of people in this country require urgent humanitarian aid. The Taliban regime is trying to increase its income through increased mining extraction and to mitigate the number of its opponents within Afghanistan by creating job opportunities. On the other hand, the Taliban are subject to sanctions from the U.S. and the West. They aim to strengthen the police, army, and intelligence (information) forces by increasing income from the mining sector to prevent the geographic expansion of war scenarios witnessed in the previous government.
The previous government of Afghanistan tried to extract mines from 2005, but due to the war and Taliban insurgency, it could not bring many mines to the extraction phase. The Taliban used to extort even the few mines that were being extracted.
Afghanistan is among the countries rich in underground resources in the world. These mines were initially surveyed by the Russians, and then American researchers re-examined them using Russian data and declared that Afghanistan has capital of between one to three trillion dollars. Minerals such as copper, lithium, iron, coal, oil, gas, and precious metals are major natural resources in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban, with their grip on Afghanistan, regard themselves as the “owner” of these mines and are making every effort to facilitate their extraction at any cost.