Tolo News: Nargis Nehan the acting minister of mines and petroleum said on Tuesday that former minister of urban development and housing, Sayed Mansour Sadat Naderi, resigned from his post so as not to lose two mining contracts he had bid for in his personal capacity. The contracts involve the Badakhshan Gold Mine and the Sar-e-Pul
Tolo News: A probe has found that despite repeated calls for quality control measures and monitoring systems to be enforced in the oil and gas sector, no such systems have yet been established. The investigation also found that government institutions involved in the purchase and import process lack the necessary information to ensure standards are
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 22, 2018 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A new report Tuesday said Islamic State, the Taliban and corrupt power brokers in Afghanistan are making hundreds of thousands of dollars from illegal and abusive mining of talc, almost 80 percent of which is ending up in the United States and Europe. Earnings from illegal
Press TV March 24, 2018 Afghanistan says Iran has asked to extract iron ore from a mine in Herat but the two neighbors have yet to reach an agreement on where to process it. Iran wants to transfer the extracted materials to an ore processing plant on its soil across the border but Afghanistan is
Mohammad Habibzada VOA News February 18, 2018 Islamic State is chopping down fruit trees and smuggling the timber into Pakistan, claim Afghan officials and local residents of the Deh Bala district of eastern Nangarhar province where the terrorist group operates. “Some of the local residents who previously helped the Taliban [are] now helping IS militants,
Michael Hughes: U.S. corporations are in secret talks with Afghan officials about exploiting the country’s coal industry in what appears like another ploy by the Trump administration to profit off the war while countering China’s dominance of the mining sector. Ironically, the discussions are occurring just as a watchdog report reveals yet again how the U.S.
William Gallo VOA News February 2, 2018 Afghanistan’s government is in advanced stages of negotiations with several U.S. companies interested in becoming involved with the country’s coal industry, a first step toward wider American investment in Afghanistan’s potentially lucrative industrial mining sector. The negotiations – confirmed to VOA by a senior Afghan diplomat and the
Mining Technology: The US administration is reportedly keen to develop Afghanistan’s extractive sector, having invested nearly $500m already. However, with rampant looting and occupation of mines by the Taliban and other insurgency groups, as well as corruption and stability concerns, some question the country’s readiness for foreign investment, as well the US administrations intentions. Click here
Asia Times: Leaked pitch to Trump administration warns of China’s goal to control key tech resource – In a presentation given to the Trump administration, published in full by Buzzfeed on Thursday, Prince outlined a plan to privatize US military operations in Afghanistan and mine rare-earth elements in the country. In addition, Prince’s Hong Kong-listed company, Frontier
The National Interest: A contractor-led role in Afghanistan would confirm the narrative that America wants perpetual warfare and to rob the country of its riches. The leading American proponent of a resource-driven war in Afghanistan is Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Inspired by the British East India Company, Prince has called for replacing U.S. and coalition forces in