Several local workers in Andarab district, Baghlan province, are complaining about the Taliban’s ban on gold panning activities. They say the management of gold extraction has been handed over to individuals affiliated with the Taliban from Kandahar province, and when they protested this decision, they faced a violent response from Taliban forces. These workers told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban halted gold panning even though many families had taken out loans to start the work and relied on it to cover their living expenses. According to them, the halt in this activity has left a number of families facing serious livelihood problems and heavy debt. Meanwhile, some economic experts warn that the ban on gold panning in Andarab district will have wide-ranging consequences for people’s livelihoods and the local economy. They believe that the loss of this source of income will heighten the risk of poverty, unemployment, and economic stagnation in the region.
Ahmad (pseudonym), a resident of Andarab district in Baghlan province, is complaining about the Taliban’s ban on gold panning and extraction in the district. He says the Taliban have taken this livelihood away from local people, even though many families had taken out loans to start gold panning and depended on it to cover their living costs.
This Andarab resident said, “People in Andarab worked here from morning until evening just to earn a piece of bread, but a few days ago, the Taliban halted gold panning without any regard for people’s hardships. Many people started this work with borrowed money, and now they face both economic difficulties and the burden of debt.”
The gold panner claims the Taliban took gold panning and extraction away from residents and handed it over to individuals from Kandahar. According to him, residents gathered to protest the decision, but their protest was met with a violent response from the Taliban.
Ahmad added, “They only stopped the activity for ordinary people, but allowed their own people from Kandahar to pan and extract gold. They destroyed our tents and gave us only one hour to leave the area. When we protested, we faced a very harsh response from the Taliban. Now we don’t know how we will pay off our debts. They didn’t provide us with any job or alternative either. The Taliban are encroaching on people’s property and rights.”
Homayoun (pseudonym), another gold panner from Andarab district, says the Taliban have brought companies from Kandahar into the area and given local gold panners only one hour to leave their work sites. According to him, despite this order, some residents stood their ground, saying they were prepared to lose their lives rather than leave the area, since their heavy debts left them no other way to make a living.
This Andarab resident said, “The Taliban, who are from Kandahar, brought in their own companies and gave local people only one hour to leave. People protested and stood firm. They said they would die if they had to, but would not leave. We are in debt, we have no other work, and if we leave here, we don’t know how we will survive. We have no other choice.”
Meanwhile, Shekab (pseudonym), an economic affairs expert, says the ban on gold panning in Andarab district delivers a direct economic shock to families’ livelihoods and the local economy.
This economic expert said, “For many families in Andarab, gold panning was the main or only source of daily cash income. Halting this activity has left families without any alternative source of income and increases the risk of them falling below the absolute poverty line. As a result, many of these families will no longer be able to afford basic needs such as food, medicine, healthcare costs, and their children’s education expenses.”
According to this expert, the loss of this income source also directly affects food security and the health of these families, and could lead to increased forced migration among young laborers and a slowdown in the local economy.
Shekab added, “Gold panning in Andarab had created a small but active financial cycle, and stopping it will reduce the circulation of money, increase both visible and hidden unemployment, and place greater pressure on the agriculture and livestock sectors. People who lose their jobs will likely turn to farming and livestock raising, but given the limited water and land resources in the region, these sectors do not have the capacity to absorb this volume of labor.”
He believes that to reduce the negative consequences of this decision, gold panning could be regulated within a legal framework and under government oversight, technical and safety equipment could be provided to gold panners, and part of the economic damage inflicted on these families could be offset through investment in infrastructure projects, the development of agriculture and horticulture, and the creation of alternative job opportunities.
This comes as sources in Takhar province said in late May that the Taliban killed three gold miners in a raid on a gold mine in Khwaja Ghar district, Takhar province. The sources said these individuals were shot dead by Taliban fighters.
Before that, local sources in Badakhshan province said that clashes over mineral resources and gold mines among Taliban members in Yawan district displaced hundreds of families from several villages. The sources added that during these clashes, several Taliban members were killed and several others were wounded.
Foreign Policy also reported that the al-Qaeda network has returned to Afghanistan and, under Taliban protection, earns tens of millions of dollars weekly from mines in the country’s northeast. The report stated that the al-Qaeda network, under Taliban protection, has hired tens of thousands of workers for illegal mining in Badakhshan and Takhar, and earns tens of millions of dollars a week from gold mines in these two provinces.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
معادن طلا در دست کیست؟ روایت زرشویان اندراب از واگذاری استخراج به طالبان قندهاری
