Recent accounts of Afghanistan’s war driven economy point to an alarming reality. Control over mineral resources has become a means of coercion and financing for violent groups, creating anxiety across neighbouring states and posing a serious threat to regional stability. Rather than serving reconstruction or public welfare, the mining sector under Taliban authority reflects a closed and coercive system shaped by force secrecy and exclusion.
Events in Badakhshan and Takhar illustrate how mining has been turned into an instrument of power accumulation. Instead of contributing to local development, extraction activities are used to secure revenue and tighten political control. Official claims of improved security and economic recovery sharply contradict conditions on the ground, where protests have been met with lethal force, land has been seized from communities, ecosystems have been damaged and links with extremist networks such as al Qaeda and the TTP have reportedly strengthened. Natural wealth under armed domination has thus become a source of repression and instability rather than progress.
Reports indicate that unrest in areas such as Chah Ab in Takhar and Avizhai Pan Mur in Badakhshan began after Taliban backed groups took over local gold mines. Residents protested against dispossession, only to face armed retaliation. Security forces and militias linked to Bashir Haji Noorzi, a former drug trafficker released in a 2022 prisoner exchange, allegedly fired on civilians, causing deaths and destruction. Noorzi is said to have applied his experience in illicit trade and logistics to manage mining operations under Taliban protection.
These incidents show that mining income is enforced through violence rather than community consent. The prevailing approach involves removing local operators, denying permits to residents and handing control to loyal figures under unclear revenue sharing arrangements. Estimates suggest that gold mining in northern provinces produces tens of millions of dollars each month, with a significant portion channelled directly into Taliban command structures outside any formal budget or local reinvestment. Mining thus operates as a parallel economy, disconnected from institutions and public oversight.
As extraction expands, social tensions intensify and governance weakens. Communities bear the environmental and social costs while profits move upward to armed networks. Gold revenues sustain the war economy and reportedly finance terrorist groups. In Badakhshan alone, gold is said to generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually, funding weapons salaries enforcement units and operational support for al Qaeda.
Under current policies, Afghanistan demonstrates how natural resources can be weaponized.
Most concerning are claims that mining revenues also support TTP activities inside Pakistan, reinforcing cross border militancy. Funds bypass public services and development priorities, strengthening informal power centres and coercive rule. Weak oversight and opaque agreements signed after 2021 have allowed armed actors to exploit mineral flows without environmental review competitive bidding or independent monitoring. Gold rich regions overlap with deposits of uranium and other strategic minerals, increasing their value for smuggling and extremist financing.
In areas where militant networks operate freely and informal taxation exists outside the law, unregulated mining becomes a durable source of income without accountability. Mines turn into financial lifelines for violent groups instead of engines of growth. Environmental and public health damage further compounds governance failure.
Extraction methods reportedly rely on mercury and cyanide without safeguards, polluting rivers such as the Kokcha and Shiwa. Contaminated water has affected farmland livestock and fisheries, contributing to neurological illness kidney disease birth complications and poisoning within the food chain. Heavy metals including lead and uranium threaten thousands of households. Tunnel collapses and landslides are frequent, killing miners who work without protective equipment safety standards insurance or compensation. There is little evidence of capacity or willingness on the part of the authorities to regulate or remediate these activities.
While the Taliban cite large numbers of security operations border posts revenue collection and personnel, realities suggest that forces are deployed primarily to guard mining sites and suppress dissent. Protests in Badakhshan and Takhar reveal a deep legitimacy crisis. Community elders have openly questioned the right of the authorities to exploit national resources without legal mandate or public consent. Many citizens view current extraction practices as unlawful appropriation rather than national development.
International isolation and frozen reserves reflect broader reluctance to engage with a system that appears to fund extremism while silencing communities. The consequences for Afghanistan are severe. Mining concentrates wealth finances terrorism deepens poverty and threatens regional peace. Environmental degradation unsafe labour practices and exclusion of local populations fuel long term resentment.
Without transparency accountability and reinvestment, mineral wealth becomes a tool of domination rather than recovery. Under current policies, Afghanistan demonstrates how natural resources can be weaponized, turning mines into pillars of internal control and sources of violence that extend beyond national borders.
The writer is a freelance columnist.