Russia eyes trillions in Afghan minerals, backs Taliban
Russia plans to support the Taliban in the exploitation of Afghanistan's rich natural resources, including gold. A detailed examination of these resources has already begun. American geological services estimate their worth to be about $3 trillion (CAD 4.2 trillion).
The Russian Business Centre in Afghanistan has announced its key task of developing a comprehensive geological map of Afghanistan's mineral resources. The goal of this initiative is to support the Taliban authorities in organizing and developing the extraction of valuable resources.
The head of the Centre, Rustam Khabibullin, revealed that field studies have already been conducted in three provinces: Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan. According to "The Moscow Times," preliminary results showed that the size of the deposits significantly exceeds previous forecasts developed by Soviet and Western geological institutions.
Gennady Teslenko, a geologist directing the Mineral Resource Base Research Service at the Russian Business Centre, emphasized that sample analyses revealed unexpectedly high content 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 predictions. The discovered precious metals include silver, gold, platinum, and palladium, and rare earth metals include lithium, tantalum, niobium, cesium, rubidium, beryllium, and cadmium.
Russia strengthens ties with the Taliban
The Taliban government is not officially recognized on the international stage. The main reasons are the failure to meet commitments such as protecting human rights, creating an inclusive government, or combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
The Taliban remain a banned organization 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 organizations. 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.
