The New World newspaper has revealed in a recent report that Bashar Norzai, a notorious drug trafficker and close figure to the Taliban, has now gained a key role in Afghanistan’s financial affairs and natural resources after his release from US prison.
According to the report published on Sunday, August 23, 2025, Norzai has not only expanded his heroin and methamphetamine trade but has also become one of the main decision-makers in the country’s mining sector.
Afghanistan’s natural resources, estimated to be worth between one to three trillion dollars, are now largely under the influence of Norzai and his network.
With close relationships with China, Iran, and Pakistan, he is considered the gateway to Afghanistan’s mines and rare mineral elements, and serves alongside Hibatullah Akhundzada as the regime’s main financial officer.
Norzai, who was one of the Taliban’s main financiers in the 1990s and according to Western officials played a fundamental role in the formation of this group, is known as the “Godfather of the Taliban.
” According to New World, the United States has once again recognized the importance of Afghanistan’s natural resources and is trying to enter into dialogue with the Taliban, conditional on the group reducing its economic relations with China.
