From gold, copper and rare earths — Taliban controls over half of Afghanistan’s treasure trove

By Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha

New Delhi, May 12: How rich is the Taliban? In the last fiscal year that ended March 2020, the Taliban reportedly "earned" $1.6 billion.

 

This is according to Mullah Yaqoob, son of the late Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who revealed the Taliban's income sources in a confidential report commissioned by NATO and in comparison, the Afghan government brought in about $5.5 billion that too in aid, during the same period.

With so many resources at its command, Taliban has become a state within a state, with sufficient income flows to fight a prolonged civil war after American forces depart this September.

Also Read: Can the son of the 'Lion of Panjshir'--Ahmad Shah Massoud--also rise to shape Afghanistan's future?

Apart from illicit opium trade ( Afghanistan accounted for approximately 84% of global opium production), Taliban's major source of income is about $464 million per year. That comes from mining iron ore, and controls over copper, gold, zinc and lithium mines, apart from their command over quarries of much-in-demand Afghan marble. Beside the Taliban have under their thumb other metals including rare-earth minerals , which go into everything from cell phones to laptops.

Besides, both small-scale mineral-extraction operations and big Afghan Mining companies pay Taliban militants to allow them to keep their businesses running. Those who don't pay have faced death sentences. According to the Taliban's Stones and Mines Commission, or Da Dabaro Comisyoon, the group earns $400 million a year from mining.

At present, the Taliban and local warlords control around 75 per cent of total mining sites in Afghanistan. According to the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP), 748 mining areas in different parts of Afghanistan, about 283 are controlled by the Taliban, 281 by the government and the remaining by powerful warlords, Pajhwok News Agency reported. While, mining areas under government control are 139 in Kabul, 37 in Badakhshan, 24 in Farah, 19 in Logar, 13 in Khost, and 49 in 11 other provinces, the Taliban controls 165 in Badakhshan, 16 in Helmand,11 in Nuristan, as many in Kunduz, eight in Uruzgan and 72 in 21 other provinces.

Similarly, the mining sites under the control of warlords include 127 in Kunar, 10 in Samangan, 10 in Baghlan, nine in Maidan Wardak, six Kunduz and 27 in seven other provinces. With resources widely distributed, along lines of conflict there is enough fuel from an extended civil war.

Over the years, the Taliban has taken control of mining sites and extorted money from ongoing legal and illegal mining operations. Lack of security and infrastructure has meant mine reserves in Afghanistan remain largely untapped, and according to a report by the United States Institute of Peace, up to 10,000 deposits are estimated to be outside government control. Much of it is in remote northern regions like Badakhshan, where Taliban revenue collectors have moved in, working with smugglers to ship stones out of Afghanistan for processing. The report says that a bulk of looted minerals is smuggled openly across the Afghan border through government checkpoints. Apart from the Taliban and "Islamic State" (IS) jihadists, the Afghan warlords also want their share in the mineral wealth. Pakistan has been a major recipient of these illicitly obtained minerals.

Maheullah Noori, a spokesman for the ministry of mines, said the government had no official estimate of the amount raised by insurgents from mining, but local MP Safiullah Muslim said the figure ran into millions of dollars a month.

"Gold, emeralds, rubies, and amethyst are all illegally mined by local militiamen and the Taliban who profit by hundreds of millions of afghans monthly," he told a news agency. The corruption-mired Afghan mining sector is the second-largest source of funding for the Taliban and one of the reasons behind violence in mineral-rich areas.

According to a US report of 2010, Afghanistan has a vast treasure trove worth at least $1 trillion in resources. The report said that the deposits could sustain the Afghan economy and generate thousands of jobs, reducing corruption and reliance on foreign aid. Currently, with 60 percent of the country's budget provided by foreign donors, foreign investment is crucial. An internal Pentagon memo also claimed that Afghanistan could develop into the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," referring to the mineral that is an integral component of laptop and smartphone batteries.

Report also acknowledged the inability of the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to handle a burgeoning resource industry.

"This is a country that has no mining culture. Unfortunately, we have failed to manage and well control our mining sector," Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, Minister of Mines and Petroleum told Bloomberg News in October, "With the current fragile and messy situation, it's really hard to say when Afghanistan should expect any profits from it."

According to the table provided by the ministry, there has been no mining activity in 14 areas. However, mining has been ongoing at one site for 40 years, at three sites for 30 years, at six sites for 20 years, at two sites for 18 years and at three other sites for 15 years. Illegal mining thus helps to prolong the ongoing conflict, especially in the northern and eastern provinces where warring groups compete for mineral wealth.

According to the experts, it was Soviet geologists who mapped the country's wealth and Afghan mining experts have been able to document the data, with details of the various local and foreign attempts to exploit the country's resources. According to a report, the Chinese company China Metallurgical Group Corp. (MCC) controls the $3 billion mine, having obtained rights to the area in 2007 . But operations have not commenced because of security concerns and the discovery by archaeologists of ancient relics dating back to the Bronze Age.

Today, nobody is seriously talking about a viable resource industry funding the country's future.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative/

( 992 Words)

2021-05-12-20:06:05
Source: IANS