OAN’s James Meyers
4:52 PM – Friday, September 1, 2023
Afghanistan’s Taliban government said it signed seven mining contracts on Thursday worth $6.5 billion in investments.
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This is the largest amount of deals since the Taliban seized power in the country two years ago.
The contracts are with local based companies who have foreign ties to countries including China, Turkey and Iran.
According to Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, the seven new contracts will create thousands of new jobs and help improve the tumultuous economic situation in the country.
Javan Noorani, an expert in Afghanistan’s mining sector, said the deal needs to lead to full mining operations on the ground to be successful, which could take years.
“The Taliban know Afghanistan has minerals and this is cash, but it’s not easy cash,” Noorani told the Associated Press. “Mineral mining is an incredibly complicated operation. It requires a proper framework, strategies, institutions and infrastructure. You open up the sector slowly and start with low-hanging fruit.”
Since the Taliban’s takeover, the terrorist group has been using foreign investing to bring the economy back up.
Almost 80% of the previous Afghan government’s budget came from the international community. According to experts, that money was used to fund schools, hospitals, factories and government ministries but the money is now mostly cut off.
However, Tamim Asey, a former official with the Afghan ministry of mines and petroleum calls the new deal “mere propaganda.”
“The legal-policy framework for the mining sector is not only vague but almost nonexistent. The regime doesn’t even have a constitution, let alone mining legal framework.”
Logar Province located in Afghanistan, is estimated to have the world’s largest copper deposit.
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By: OAN
