Taliban, ISIS make millions from mines

Rising global demand for cosmetics, marble and stainless steel is helping Taliban and Islamic State militants in Afghanistan fund their increasingly violent insurgencies, according to an investigation by the nonprofit watchdog Global Witness.

The militant groups make millions of dollars annually mining talc, chromite and marble in eastern part of the war-torn nation. The international nongovernmental organization in a report Tuesday estimates the Taliban earns $2.5 million to $10 million a year from mining talc alone. It is unclear how much Islamic State’s local affiliate, which has fought and taken over mining areas from the Taliban in three districts of Nangarhar province, has managed to exploit the mines, according to Global Witness.

“The relationship between the Islamic State and mining is powerful and worrying, but it is only a case study for what is a much larger problem,” said Nick Donovan, a campaign director at Global Witness. “Not just insurgent groups but also a host of other armed groups across the country benefit from mining.”

Afghanistan, which the U.S. estimates has $1 trillion of mineral deposits, has failed to generate significant revenue or control over its mining industry. The administration of President Ashraf Ghani has been keen to promote the assets to potential investors despite widespread corruption and increasing violence across the country and capital, Kabul. Along with the Taliban, which is estimated to now control or contest nearly half the country, fighters affiliated to Islamic State emerged in eastern Afghanistan in 2014.

Global Witness cited unidentified people claiming that Islamic State had brought in foreign engineers from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and installed heavy machinery at the mining sites.