Taliban officials signed a $1 billion contract on Thursday with the Uzbek company ERIELL Group for gas extraction in the Tuti Maidan area of Jawzjan province, in northern Afghanistan. The signing ceremony took place in Kabul.
Hidayatullah Badri, the Taliban’s minister of mines, said the contract spans a ten-year period.
He noted that ERIELL Group would invest $100 million in the project during its first year.
Additionally, the project is expected to generate 100 megawatts of electricity within the first two years.
The agreement comes amid concerns from Afghan citizens about transparency in the Taliban’s management of mining revenues.
Critics argue that income from the country’s natural resources, considered national assets, should be directed toward the public good.
