Afghanistan: Taliban Taxes Illegal Gold Mines in Northeastern Afghanistan

Aug 24, 2020 | Nimatullah Ahmadi and Abubakar Siddique, Gandhara
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Residents and officials in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan say the Taliban is raking in considerable revenues by taxing illegal gold mining in the remote region bordering China, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. They say revenues from gold mining are helping the hard-line movement to expand its control in the strategic province, which largely remained outside its control during the Taliban’s stint in power in the 1990s when it controlled most of country’s more than 650,000-square-kilometer territory.