Afghanistan possesses some of the most concentrated reserves of critical minerals in the world including lithium, rare earths, copper, cobalt, oil, and precious stones, essential for the global economy and modern technologies. Yet, rather than driving national development, the administration of these assets mirrors the extraction of gravel. Unresolved internal disputes over mining control, revenue distribution, and local rights are actively fueling violence in northern Afghanistan. How an internal power struggle between the Kandahar leadership and the Haqqani Network, combined with widespread corruption, opaque legal frameworks, and environmental devastation, has transformed northern mining regions into a crucible of conflict and elite enrichment.
Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth vs Governance Reality
Geological surveys by the United States and Afghanistan’s own Ministry of Mines have confirmed nearly 90 mineral occurrences, with over 30 classified as critical. The country holds more than 1,400 mineral fields containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, salt, sulfur, lithium, talc, and zinc, alongside gemstones like high quality emeralds, rubies, red garnets, and lapis lazuli. The northeastern provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan are especially rich, identifying more than 77 types of minerals and metals alone.
Despite this immense potential, the sector is plagued by institutional decay. The Taliban administration lacks a transparent legal framework for revenue collection, public expenditure, financial administration, and budget management, and no effective independent institution exists to scrutinize its financial operations. While the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has announced hundreds of contracts such as 203 small and large mining contracts with a combined announced value exceeding $250 million over a four-year period, and an $8.9 million investment value for two gold projects in Takhar, these figures represent announced values rather than actual transfers to the state treasury.
Furthermore, the Taliban’s supreme leader has ordered the repeal or suspension of subsidiary laws governing mining, domestic and foreign investment, commercial companies, public procurement, and environmental protection. By ordering the word “law” removed from procurement agreements, the legal status and enforceability of mining contracts have been cast into profound doubt.
Core Political Conflict: Kandahar vs. The Haqqani Network
The unrest in northern Afghanistan is driven chiefly by a high-stakes rivalry between two dominant factions: the Kandahar leadership and the Haqqani Network.
Kandahar Leadership: Headed by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and his inner circle, this faction is aggressively seeking to centralize control over mining contracts, extraction permits, taxation, appointments, and money collection. Reports indicate that a significant portion of centralized funds- including a monthly allocation of $40 million is distributed among mullahs, rural clerics, and allied groups like Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Haqqani Network: Led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, with historical roots in southeastern Afghanistan, the network has historically held influence over key revenue-generating institutions in Kabul, such as customs offices, border checkpoints, and passport administrations, alongside ties to chromite-mining revenues.
This political rift manifested directly in the mining sector through high-level personnel changes. In 2024, Akhundzada replaced Minister of Mines and Petroleum Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar-who is close to the Haqqanis-with Haji Gul Agha (Mullah Hidayatullah Badri), a Kandahar-aligned figure. This portfolio shift exported the Kabul-level dispute directly into the mining regions. Local commanders and security personnel affiliated with the Haqqani faction, who long controlled lucrative mines and economic assets on the ground, resisted the transfer of authority to Kandahari appointees, igniting systemic unrest.
Corruption Mechanisms & Off-the-Record Contracting
Mining concessions have frequently bypassed open, competitive tenders, favoring single-source procurement with Chinese firms or informal allocations to political elites. Emerald mines in Panjshir, lapis lazuli in Badakhshan, and coal in Dara-e-Suf have been distributed through simple applications without formal written contracts. Systemic corruption permeates the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum:
1. Nangarhar Talc Scheme: Documents exposed a $700,000 bribery scheme where a second assessment committee consisting of senior advisors and ministry directors, fraudulently added 700,000 tonnes of talc to an initial 300,000-tonne verification report in exchange for a $1-per-tonne bribe from traders.
2. Wikador Gold Mine Bribe: Ministry commissioner Shams al-Rahman Shaker accepted a $200,000 bribe to award the Wikador gold mine contract, a transaction captured on video and resulting in his detention by Taliban intelligence.
3. Placer-Gold Contracts: Deputy Minister Mawlawi Abdul Rahman Qanit has been accused of awarding alluvial gold contracts based on personal connections and bribes rather than legal procedures, forcing successful individuals to sub-contract extraction and fuel corruption.
Undisclosed Elite Financial Stakes: In foreign operated projects like the Awez gold mine in Shahri Buzurg (operated by the foreign company Urgent), high-ranking Taliban officials hold undisclosed percentage-based stakes to protect operations and suppress local resistance. Reported stakes include Sayed Habibullah Shahpoor (16%), Army Chief of Staff Qari Fasihuddin Fitrat (7%), Deputy Defence Minister Mullah Fazl Mazloom (5%), and administrative official Saifuddin (4%).
Environmental Ruin, Exploitation, and Unrest
For local communities in Badakhshan and Takhar, mineral wealth has brought devastation rather than prosperity.
8. Land Seizures and Dispossession: Taliban affiliated companies and individuals frequently buy up or forcibly seize agricultural land and pastures, threatening regional food security and long-term livelihoods.
8. Environmental Destruction: Unprofessional, large-scale extraction practices have destroyed natural landscapes-such as wiping out lush pistachio forests in Badakhshan-and caused severe water shortages and surface water contamination.
8. Informal Extortion: Transporters and miners face unlegislated cash taxes imposed on-site by local personnel (such as a 10% tax amounting to roughly 10,000 AFN per vehicle), bypassing banking systems entirely.
These compounding grievances have repeatedly sparked violent confrontations between local populations and mining operators. Incidents like the violent clashes at Samti in Chah Ab district (January 2026), which left four dead and five injured, and massive protests in Arghanj Khwah involving 1,500 residents, highlight deep-seated public anger. Out of severe desperation, local populations have increasingly aligned with armed opposition groups like the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF).
Chronology of the Badakhshan Conflict (2024 2026)
The friction over centralized control reached a boiling point in Badakhshan province:
8. October 2025: Armed clashes broke out in Shahri Buzurg between rival factions of former mining officials, prompting Army Chief of Staff Fasihuddin Fitrat to mediate.
8. May 2026: Disputes over the Qatqati gold mine resulted in casualties, leading former Governor Ismail Ghaznawi to deploy a 1,000-strong special force to seize control of mining camps and arrest commanders like Musa Kaka.
8. June 2026: The central leadership officially moved Badakhshan mines under Kandahar authority, replacing local officials and arresting Haqqani-aligned commander Jumma Khan Fateh.
8. August 2026: Negotiations broke down, resulting in heavy armed clashes and helicopter attacks in Nusay district between Fateh’s loyalists and Taliban forces, culminating in Fateh’s surrender on August 17.
Final Words
The crisis in northern Afghanistan demonstrates that the ongoing unrest is rooted entirely in internal factional infighting between the Kandahari and Haqqani networks, fueled by resource plunder and systemic corruption. With subsidiary laws abolished, oversight non-existent, and revenues funneled to elite networks rather than public development, local communities bear the heavy cost of environmental destruction and economic disenfranchisement. Without transparent contracting, independent auditing, and accountable institutions, internal resource contestation will continue to destabilize northern Afghanistan and drive local communities toward active resistance.