By Abubakar Siddique September 23, 2023 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty The Taliban has been celebrating since the Islamist group that rules Afghanistan signed seven mining contracts promising to attract more than $6.5 billion in investments late last month. But experts are skeptical about whether the contracts, signed on August 31 with Afghan-based companies aligned with foreign
Arab News: There are reports that the revenues from mines, besides helping the Taliban run its government machinery, are also partially being channeled into the private pockets of some of the Taliban leaders. If true, this could be another chapter in the long history of thefts of the national assets of Afghanistan. Another example is
Akmal Dawi VOA News September 7, 2023 WASHINGTON — The Taliban, facing international sanctions and a dire economic outlook at home, have intensified efforts to leverage Afghanistan’s vast natural resources. From oil to copper, gold and lithium, the Islamist leadership, unrecognized by any nation as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, has inked multibillion-dollar mining deals with Chinese and
Khaama: The Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said on Thursday that a Chinese Company, Gochin expressed its interest in investing $10 billion in Afghanistan’s lithium deposits. According to the statement, the acting minister for mine and Petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, met with the Chinese company representatives in Kabul. Since the Taliban takeover of the country,
By Chris Rickleton Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 5, 2023 When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in a lightning military insurrection that toppled Afghanistan’s internationally recognized government, the country immediately fell into diplomatic isolation. Two of Kabul’s neighbors to the north, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, chose a different route, putting the hard-line group’s fractious history
8am: On Tuesday, March 7, Uzbekistan’s media reported that the delegation would visit Afghanistan. According to the report, Uzbekistan’s government is concerned about the decrease in water available for the country’s farmers due to the continued excavation of the Qush Tepa canal by the Taliban. Taliban had previously said that they were willing to negotiate
Lawfare: Despite the CCP’s concerted efforts to approach its relationship with the Taliban pragmatically, with economic incentives and a concrete security agenda, the reality of the current situation in Afghanistan is highly volatile. While blaming the U.S. and Western countries for the ongoing financial and humanitarian disaster in the country, the Taliban appear more focused
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 22, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have arrested five men, including two Chinese nationals, for allegedly trying to smuggle an estimated 1,000 metric tons of lithium-bearing rocks out of the country. The arrests and the seizure of the rocks were made in the eastern Afghan border city of Jalalabad.
8am: Speculations have mounted that China will seek dominance over Afghanistan’s mineral resources, particularly its lithium, gold and other rare-earth ore deposits, following the final US withdrawal from the country in August 2021. Local sources said on Thursday, January 12, that experts from two Chinese firms have visited Ghazni province for technical studies of lithium
Ariana: The US government spent nearly $1 billion to fund critical mineral surveys, mineral exploration, regulatory reforms and capacity development for the former Afghan government, according to the report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR. “US efforts in Afghanistan’s extractives industry presented one of the greatest opportunities for the Afghan government