Posted by Harvesting Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth
After 16 years of delays, Chinese engineers and the Taliban government officially started work at Mes Aynak, a massive project in Afghanistan to mine the world’s second-largest deposit of copper, my colleagues at RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi reported.
Finding Perspective: At the July 24 event, Taliban officials along with Chinese businessmen and diplomats carried out a ribbon-cutting ceremony as work began on the construction of a road to the mining site.
A $3 billion deal signed in 2008 with the previous Afghan government gave the Chinese state-owned China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) a 30-year mining concession, but combat between NATO-led troops and Taliban insurgents at the time delayed the project from moving forward.
But with violence waning since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, the cash-strapped Taliban-installed government is eager to exploit the country’s vast and lucrative mineral deposits.
Since it seized power, the Taliban has faced the task of undertaking the reconstruction and development of a country devastated by decades of war. At the same time, officials have also found their economy suffocated by Western sanctions and are dealing with international isolation that has cut them off from receiving financial support.
China has been an exception for the Taliban government, with Beijing vowing to pursue deeper cooperation shortly after the group took control of Kabul, and Chinese companies have had an eye on exploiting Afghanistan’s extensive resource wealth, signing a series of deals to secure the rights to oil and gas fields and rare-earth metal deposits.
What Comes Next?: Taliban officials said it would likely be at least two years before the first copper was extracted by MCC.
According to a Brookings Institute report, Afghanistan sits on some 2.3 billion metric tons of iron ore and 1.4 million metric tons of rare-earth minerals, and the U.S. Geological Survey has calculated that the country is sitting on $1 trillion in untapped minerals, such as iron, gold, and lithium — an essential but scarce component in rechargeable batteries and other technologies.
Mes Aynak is one of the most attractive offerings for Chinese firms. The deposit is estimated to contain 11.5 million tons of copper ore, which is vital for electronics components and is surging in value due to its use in growing markets related to electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.
Why It Matters: The ground breaking is a sign that Chinese resource ventures are moving forward in the country after decades of delays, but security concerns are still paramount.
Further developing the mine and turning a profit from it will require a substantially larger footprint of Chinese workers inside Afghanistan, and there are lingering questions about whether the Taliban can offer protection, especially amid Islamic State-Khorasan’s expanding profile.
Chinese workers have increasingly become a target of attacks in the region by various militant groups.
In neighboring Pakistan, there have been growing attacks on Chinese citizens, including a suicide attack that killed five Chinese engineers in March and a 2021 bombing that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, at a dam project.
In Afghanistan, at least five Chinese nationals were wounded when gunmen stormed a Kabul hotel popular with Beijing businessmen in 2022.
Who Watches the Watchers? 