According to AP, the Taliban administration of Afghanistan signed seven contracts for mining operations, together worth some $6.5 billion. The contracts are all with local companies, which have foreign partners in such countries as Turkiye, China, and Iran. Iron, zinc, lead, and gold are the most prominent metals.
Afghanistan’s mineral reserves are immense, estimated by U.S. officials and geologists as exceeding $1 trillion in value.
The nation is “one of the world’s most resource-rich countries” on paper, acknowledged Foreign Policy magazine in 2022.
After almost entirely eradicating poppy cultivation, the new leadership is moving to advance Afghanistan’s broader economic interests. The new mining partnerships, if coupled with infrastructure investments to allow for local processing of ores and higher-level production, could play a major role in advancing Afghanistan’s progress along the value chain.
