After several people were killed or wounded in the Chah Ab district of Takhar province, former officials, politicians, and residents openly condemned the Taliban’s role in illegal mining and the violent suppression of civilians. They described these actions as outright looting and aggression and urged the public to stand against the group’s oppression. Critics warned that continuing this pattern puts lives at risk, devastates the environment, and deepens economic injustice, domestic violence, and long-term crises in Takhar and Badakhshan. At the same time, social media is filled with videos showing Taliban fighters guarding mining companies and opening fire. In several clips, a fighter shoots directly at unarmed people.
Tensions escalated after residents of the Samti area in Chah Ab district of Takhar province confronted Taliban-affiliated companies extracting gold from the area. The clash left three residents and one Taliban fighter dead. Local sources say that after the killings, residents poured into the streets in protest and forced the Taliban fighters, who had fired on civilians to protect the companies, to retreat. The incident quickly triggered widespread outrage.
Mohammad Farid Hamidi, the former Attorney General of the country, responded to the crackdown and the role of Taliban-linked mining companies in a post on X. He wrote: “The unchecked and plunder of mines, in violation of both national and international standards, destroys a healthy environment, causes irreversible damage to nature, spreads instability and oppression, and violates the rights of local communities living in or near resource-rich areas. International standards and basic principles of justice require that mining take place with transparency and with the consultation and participation of residents, environmental experts, and natural scientists.”
Hamidi went on to say: “This mafia-style, opaque, illegal, and corrupt exploitation of mines fuels environmental disasters, violence against local communities, political instability, and deeper ethnic and regional divisions. It adds to the many hardships already burdening the country. The deaths of compatriots in Chah Ab, Shahr-e Bozorg, and other areas at the hands of mining mafias and their ruling allies mark the beginning of a grim and bloody chapter of governance built on plunder and corruption by those in power and their domestic and foreign partners.”
He further reflected: “For forty-five years, the story of this country’s mines and natural wealth has been written in blood and fire, shaped by foreign interference, the rise of war and terrorism, mafias, corruption, coercion, and injustice. Over the past four years, these tragedies have intensified. The smell and shine of gold, combined with rising global prices, have driven rulers intoxicated by power into a reckless obsession with easy wealth.”
Nargis Nehan, the former Minister of Mines and Petroleum of Afghanistan, also spoke out. She wrote: “Mines are a national asset and a trust held for generations. Indigenous communities in mining areas have the greatest right to these resources. Mining carries serious risks, especially for the environment, and directly affects the lives and livelihoods of local people. That is why countries around the world provide the highest benefits and protections to communities living near mines. This approach ensures justice and helps prevent conflict.” She said the Taliban now use various tactics to silence public voices and stressed, “This is the moment to speak for the people of Chah Ab. The suffering people of other regions must stand with them and show solidarity.”
Noor Rahman Akhlaqi, the former Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, welcomed the public protests against the Taliban and what he called the gold mafia. He said the events unfolding in Badakhshan and Takhar reflect an organized campaign of plunder carried out under Taliban oversight and in support of terrorist networks and international gold mafias.
Akhlaqi wrote: “Over the past four years, the Taliban have looted nearly two billion dollars’ worth of gold from Badakhshan and Takhar. None of this wealth has benefited local communities, the environment, or regional development. Instead, it has strengthened an illegitimate and terrorist group and enriched a small circle of corrupt capitalists and mercenaries, while schools, hospitals, and basic infrastructure received nothing.”
He also pointed to a deeper problem, noting that opposition movements have failed to link the struggle for freedom to people’s daily lives. He argued that people lose motivation when they do not see change in their bread, land, and dignity. He wrote: “When opposition movements remain silent at moments when they should stand beside the people and help society reclaim its rights, it becomes a serious failure. For ordinary people, a freedom struggle rooted in economic justice matters most.”
Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Switzerland, warned that the northeast of the country, especially Takhar and Badakhshan, is sliding toward a crisis resembling the devastation seen in northeastern Congo. He said mining there takes place without professionalism, transparency, or accountability and goes hand in hand with the repression of local communities by a predatory authority serving foreign companies and mafia interests. He stressed that the gold mines of Raghistan, Chah Ab, and Shahr-e Bozorg, as well as the lapis lazuli mines of Kuran wa Munjan, should have first improved local living conditions before serving national interests.
Andisha wrote: “Today, Taliban commanders from the south, along with foreign contractors and some local officials, control these resources. Local people face threats and displacement, and environmental destruction is accelerating. A hostile form of rule has pushed Afghanistan out of the international legal and financial system, leaving no space for transparent and lawful investment. Smuggling networks and illegal extraction have stepped in to fill that gap. The people and leaders of the north must act now, before Takhar and Badakhshan turn into another version of northeastern Congo. Silence today will mean a deep and lasting crisis.”
At the same time, social media users, former officials, and human rights activists widely shared a video showing an armed man firing directly at civilians. In the footage, people run toward him with stones and sticks, showing no fear of the bullets. The gunman, identified as Taliban-affiliated, continues to shoot as the crowd resists.
Social media has also been filled with reactions condemning the Taliban’s plunder of gold mines in Takhar and Badakhshan. Many users say the group, working with local mafias, has looted public wealth and caused severe environmental damage.
Another widely shared video shows mining companies operating in the Khitayan area of Taloqan, the center of Takhar, and one of the city’s most scenic locations. Users recall how the area’s natural beauty, especially in spring, once drew admiration. Today, forests, greenery, rivers, and settlements are disappearing, as companies linked to the Taliban tear the land apart.
The Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has confirmed the deaths of residents and announced that it has sent a delegation to the Chah Ab district of Takhar province to investigate the clash between residents and a contracting mining company over a gold mine.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
طلای خونین و فاجعه طبیعی؛ واکنشها به غارت معادن و سرکوب مردم در تخار
