KABUL — Taliban’s Ministry of Mines at a ceremony in Kabul on Tuesday signed a $6.2 million contract with a Turkish company to extract marble from a mine in Kandahar’s Dara-i-Noor district in the south of the country.
The agreement grants Turkey’s Emioglu company the rights to explore and extract marble from a three-square-kilometer site in southern Afghanistan.
At the signing event, Hedayatullah Badri, the Taliban’s minister of mines and petroleum, said the 30-year contract would allow the company to invest in exploration, extraction, and processing.
“Today, we are signing the contract for the Dara-i-Noor marble mine in Kandahar with the Turkish company Emioglu,” Badri said. “The company will invest in exploration, extraction, and processing.”
Since retaking power, Taliban have significantly expanded mining contracts, awarding at least six major mines to private companies this year alone.
According to official Taliban figures, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has signed more than $650 million in mining contracts, with Chinese firms receiving the largest share.
The Altamur cement mine in Logar province was awarded to a Chinese company in a $145 million deal.
A Chinese firm also secured the gold mine in Chah Ab, Takhar, with an investment of $310 million.
The Yetimtaq cement mine in Jawzjan was contracted to a Turkish company for $163 million.
Additionally, the Taliban have awarded five lead and zinc mining blocks in Bamyan province, stating that the revenue will be used for development projects in Kandahar, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak, and Herat.
While the Taliban have pushed for foreign investment in Afghanistan’s vast mineral resources, many Afghans remain skeptical about where the revenue is going.
Maryam, a Kabul resident, voiced concerns over the lack of transparency in mining revenues. “The Taliban have awarded dozens of mining contracts, but people’s economic conditions have not improved. We want them to clarify where this money is going,” she said.
Farahnaz Ahmadi, another resident, echoed similar concerns. “Mining revenues should benefit the people, but it’s unclear how this money is being spent,” she said.
Some mining deals have sparked local opposition and protests. Recently, residents of Chah Ab district in Takhar accused the Taliban and their contracted companies of plundering the region’s gold mines while damaging farmlands and homes instead of implementing development projects.
