Sarah Godek
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, China has dominated Afghanistan’s mining industry. But the mines, primarily located along both sides of the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border, are now turning into a lethal minefield. Chinese nationals have been increasingly targeted by militants, with the most recent incidents resulting in the death of five Chinese miners and workers in Tajikistan in cross-border attacks from northern Afghanistan. Chinese mining is spurring resentment from locals, while the miners are also caught in the crosshairs of both anti-Taliban feeling and border tensions.
Since the Taliban takeover, Chinese nationals have been in a gold rush in northern Afghanistan due to record high gold prices. Some of the efforts are legal, with both the Chinese government and Taliban leadership’s support, but many are ad hoc arrangements, at best informally sanctioned by local Taliban leaders. The influx of inexperienced investors has resulted in a sense of lawlessness, with local Afghans clashing with both Taliban and Chinese miners in the area mostly over mining rights.
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