Officials from the Taliban government's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in Kunar province have announced the sale of precious and semi-precious stones worth over 23 million Afghanis.
Mohammad Shirin Haqqani, the Taliban's director of mines and petroleum in Kunar, stated on Wednesday that the gems were sold at an auction held on Tuesday, October 27, in the provincial capital, Asadabad. He reported that stones valued at 23.7 million AFN were sold to local and Indian merchants.
While Haqqani did not specify the total weight of the stones sold, he confirmed that they included beryl and kunzite. These gems were extracted from mines located in the Manogi and Chapa Dara districts of the province.
He added that 10% of the total sales, amounting to approximately 2.4 million AFN, has been transferred to the Taliban government's treasury as revenue. This move is part of the Taliban's oader effort to increase domestic income by leveraging the country's mineral resources.
This auction follows another significant sale just a week ago, where the Taliban sold approximately 500 kilograms of beryl and kunzite for over 150 million AFN.
In recent months, the Taliban administration has intensified the extraction and sale of precious and semi-precious stones from various provinces, particularly in the northeast. This trend has raised serious concerns among citizens and experts about the management of Afghanistan's natural resources and the potential for their illicit plunder.
Source: Etilaat Roz
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