The Taliban have announced that they generated more than 133 million Afghanis in revenue from the sale of precious and semi-precious gemstones in the provinces of Panjshir and Kunar.
According to the Taliban, 6,755 carats of emeralds were sold to domestic traders through a public auction in Panjshir for 14.453 million Afghanis.
The Taliban’s media office in Panjshir stated that the number of identified gemstone-bearing sites in the province has reached 1,500, with extraction activities currently underway in most of these areas.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s Directorate of Mines and Petroleum in Kunar reported that 1,585 kilograms of beryl, a semi-precious gemstone, were sold through a public auction at the Asadabad Gemstone Trading Center for 119.3 million Afghanis.
According to the directorate, 11.9 million Afghanis from the sale of the beryl were transferred to the state budget as the Taliban’s share of the proceeds.
Afghanistan is widely regarded as a country rich in precious and semi-precious mineral resources. However, questions have consistently been raised regarding the transparency of mineral extraction, resource management, and the handling of revenues generated from the country’s mining sector.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
