The Sepah-e Mihan front said in a statement that it had attacked a foreign gold-mining company in Takhar province, killing one person and injuring several others.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the group said that it would henceforth target foreign companies involved in gold mining as well as companies affiliated with the Taliban. The Sepah-e Mihan Front added that protecting Afghanistan’s natural resources and national assets is among its “missions.”
The statement did not specify which country the gold-mining company targeted two days earlier belonged to.
Earlier, sources said that armed men attacked a Chinese gold-mining company on the evening of Saturday, 24 Asad (August 15), in the Chenarak area of Chah Ab district, Takhar province. According to the sources, the attackers used both light and heavy weapons and engaged in a gunfight with the company’s security guards.
The Sepah-e Mihan Front warned gold-mining companies to halt their mining activities, saying that otherwise they would become “legitimate targets” for its forces.
According to information from the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, an Afghan-Chinese joint venture has invested $310 million in gold mining in Takhar. Under the agreement, 56 percent of the project’s shares were allocated to the Taliban authorities and 44 percent to the company. The company said in 2023 (1402 in the Solar Hijri calendar) that mining operations would continue for three to five years.
This was the Sepah-e Mihan Front’s second operation in Takhar since it briefly seized control of Yaftal district for several hours on July 17 this year.
Targeting gold-mining companies is one of the distinguishing features of the group’s attacks compared with those carried out by other anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
