Russia explores Afghanistan's minerals with Taliban partnership
Russia plans to support the Taliban in exploiting Afghanistan's rich natural resources, including gold. A detailed examination of these resources has already begun. American geological services estimate their worth to be around $3 (€2.8) trillion.
The Russian Business Centre in Afghanistan has announced its main aim of developing a detailed geological map of Afghanistan's mineral resources. This initiative seeks to aid Taliban authorities in organising and developing the extraction of valuable resources.
The head of the Centre, Rustam Khabibullin, disclosed that field studies have already been conducted in three provinces: Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan. According to "The Moscow Times," preliminary results indicated that the size of the deposits significantly exceeds prior predictions by Soviet and Western geological institutions.
Gennady Teslenko, a geologist directing the Mineral Resource Base Research Service at the Russian Business Centre, highlighted that sample analyses revealed unexpectedly high contents of valuable resources.
According to his data, the content of precious metals is eight times higher, and rare earth metals are as much as twelve times higher than predicted. The discovered precious metals include silver, gold, platinum, and palladium, and rare earth metals encompass lithium, tantalum, niobium, caesium, rubidium, beryllium, and cadmium.
Russia strengthens ties with the Taliban
The Taliban government is not officially recognised on the international stage. The main reasons are their failure to meet commitments such as protecting human rights, creating an inclusive government, and combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
The Taliban remain a banned organisation in Russia, yet Russian authorities regularly invite their delegations to diplomatic events and high-level conferences.
Moscow is considering removing the Taliban from the list of terrorist organisations. In May 2024, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice submitted a report to President Vladimir Putin justifying this decision.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova explained that this step is pragmatic, as the Taliban control Afghanistan, and cooperation with them is essential for combating drug trafficking, terrorism, and cross-border crime.
