"Taliban says it signed mining deals worth over $6.5 billion"

" Taliban says it signed mining deals worth over $6.5 billion \r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\nAfghanistan\u2019s Taliban has signed seven mining contracts that would bring roughly $6.5 billion in investments to the ruling government,\u00a0 the\u00a0 Associated Press \u00a0reported \u00a0on Thursday. This figure, AP says, represents the biggest round of deals made by Taliban since seizing power two years ago.\r\n\r\nAccording to AP, the contracts are with locally based companies, many of whom have foreign partners in countries including China, Iran and Turkey. They include the extraction and processing of iron ore, lead, zinc, gold and copper in four provinces: Herat, Ghor, Logar and Takhar.\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n\r\n A separate report \u00a0by\u00a0 Voice of America\u00a0 showed that a televised signing ceremony took place on Thursday, featuring Taliban\u2019s minister of mines and petroleum Shahabuddin Dilawar and certain Chinese investors.\r\n\r\nIn an official statement, Dilawar said that the agreement with a Chinese company for gold extraction in Takhar would bring the Taliban government a 65% share of the earnings over five years.\r\n\r\nHe added that other contracts involving Turkish, Iranian and British investments related to mining and processing iron ore in Herat would earn the government a 13% share over 30 years. \u201cIt will eventually turn Afghanistan into an exporter of iron,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nNo further details were given by the Taliban on the contracts, only that \u201cthey would create thousands of jobs and significantly improve the economic situation of the country\u201d and result in over $6.5 billion in foreign investments.\r\n\r\nHowever, \u201cany figures given for the deals could be misleading unless they lead to fully realized mining operations on the ground, which could take years,\u201d Javed Noorani, an expert in Afghanistan\u2019s mining sector, told\u00a0 the\u00a0 Associated Press .\r\n\r\nSince reclaiming power in August 2021, the Taliban has been courting foreign investment to revitalize Afghanistan\u2019s economy, leveraging the nation\u2019s vast amount of mineral resources that remain largely untapped to date.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Taliban know Afghanistan has minerals and this is cash, but it\u2019s not easy cash,\u201d Noorani told AP. \u201cMineral 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.\u201d\r\n\r\nTamim Asey, a former official with the Afghan ministry of mines and petroleum, is much more skeptical of the Taliban\u2019s new dealings.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Afghan financial and banking sector is almost paralyzed and dysfunctional. Hence, no financial transactions or valuations,\u201d\u00a0 he wrote in a thread on\u00a0 Twitter \u00a0 (or X, as Elon Musk prefers to call it).\r\n\r\n\u201cThe legal-policy framework for the mining sector is not only vague but almost nonexistent. The regime doesn\u2019t even have a constitution, let alone mining legal framework.\u201d\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n "

"Taliban says it signed mining deals worth over $6.5 billion"

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