Major Revelations: Large Share of Badakhshan Gold Mining Revenue Allegedly Misappropriated.
Abdul Matin Rahimzai, the newly appointed Taliban Director of Mines in Badakhshan, has announced the discovery of widespread corruption, misappropriation of revenue, and serious administrative irregularities in the province’s mining sector.
Rahimzai said that a review of official records revealed that several active mines had been operating outside the formal administrative framework, while accurate information regarding their revenues and production was unavailable to the provincial Directorate of Mines.
He added that a number of mines had never been officially registered with the department and that the fate of a significant portion of the revenue generated from these operations remains unknown.
His remarks represent the first public acknowledgment by a Taliban official of extensive irregularities in Badakhshan’s mining sector, a province that has become one of the group’s most important sources of revenue in recent years.
The disclosure comes after Rahimzai, an ethnic Pashtun Taliban official, replaced Shafiqullah Hafizi, a Taliban official from Badakhshan, as head of the provincial mining department.
Some observers believe the leadership change is part of a broader effort by the Taliban leadership to remove local figures from the management of mineral resources and centralize control of the province’s lucrative mining sector among officials closely aligned with the group’s senior leadership.
The recent arrests of several Taliban members from Badakhshan have also intensified speculation about an internal power struggle over the province’s vast mineral wealth.
