Taliban have canceled an oil extraction contract with a Chinese firm, citing repeated violations of the agreement and failure to meet investment commitments in the Amu Darya basin, one of Afghanistan’s most promising energy reserves.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said the contract with Afchin, a Chinese oil and gas company, was terminated following an investigation by joint committees tasked with reviewing the firm’s compliance. The findings, the ministry said, confirmed that Afchin had consistently failed to uphold key provisions of the agreement.
“The company did not fulfill its obligations and was in continuous breach of contract,” the ministry said, adding that the decision was based on recommendations from the Taliban’s Economic Commission and the Office of the Prime Minister.
The agreement, signed in 2022, granted Afchin rights to extract crude oil from the Amu Darya basin, which stretches across Afghanistan’s northern Sar-e-Pul and Faryab provinces. The company had pledged to invest $150 million in the first year and $540 million over the initial three years of the deal.
In addition to annulling the contract, the Taliban have called on international legal and consulting firms to assist in evaluating the agreement’s legal ramifications and oversee any financial settlements with the Chinese company.
The Amu Darya oil field spans approximately 4,500 square kilometers and contains an estimated 87 million tons of confirmed crude oil reserves, according to Taliban officials.
Afchin has not publicly responded to the cancellation.
