Taliban Mining Economy, an Insurgent Way of Doing Business

Sep 3, 2026 | Shahzaib Khan
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Afghanistan has long been described as a poor country sitting on extraordinary wealth. Under Taliban rule, that contradiction has acquired a harder political edge. A recent Jamestown Foundation analysis argues that mineral extraction is increasingly organized around centralized revenue collection, opaque contracting and networks linked to political power. The problem is not mining itself. Afghanistan badly needs investment and productive employment. The problem is whether a national asset is being developed through rules that allow citizens to know who receives contracts, what companies pay, where revenues go and what communities gain.