The Taliban is seeing green lately, and not from jealousy. The Islamic extremists have been exhibiting and auctioning off emeralds weekly—sales that underscore the Taliban's "increasing reliance on Afghanistan's natural resources as a source of revenue" after losing much of their international aid, per AMU TV. The New York Times takes a deeper dive into the militant group's look "below ground" to boost its limp economy, via mining deals with Chinese, Russian, and Iranian investors, among others, to plumb the nation's gemstones, precious metals, copper, iron, and other coveted minerals.
By American estimates, there's about $1 trillion worth of mineral deposits lying underneath Afghanistan's landscape. The United States had tried to set up similar deals while it was embedded in the nation for two decades, but "tangible progress was negligible and not sustained," according to a 2023 report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The Times notes that the Taliban is likely to be confronted with many of the same roadblocks that the US faced, including turnover in government agencies, shoddy infrastructure, bad security, corruption, and government policies that are all over the place.
For context on how much Afghanistan has lost since the US withdrew its forces in 2021: During the 20-year occupation, the United States forked over about $143 billion in development and humanitarian assistance to the nation, but since the Taliban takeover almost four years ago, the US has given less than $3 billion in similar aid. In April, the World Bank reported that the Afghan economy has dipped more than 25% over the past two years. The Financial Times takes a closer look at how the Taliban seized the mines. (More Taliban stories.)
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