The Taliban in the eastern Nangarhar province says its forces have arrested two people for allegedly attempting to smuggle lithium ore to Pakistan.
The group’s provincial governor’s office says that two men were arrested on Sunday at the Torkham border crossing after up to four tonnes of lithium ore were discovered hidden under a load of coal inside a truck.
Since retaking power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has banned the extraction and sale of lithium. However, some powerful Taliban officials have been accused of involvement in smuggling the country’s mineral resources.
Afghanistan is one of the world’s most resource-rich countries and reportedly sits on an estimated $1 trillion worth of rare earth minerals, including huge deposits of lithium.
Lithium is a key component in rechargeable batteries and it is used in clean technologies to tackle climate change, pushing global demand for the metal to soaring levels.
In April, a Chinese company Gochin expressed willingness to invest $10 billion in Afghanistan’s lithium deposits which could create 120,000 direct and a million indirect jobs in the country amid a surge in the unemployment rate and widespread poverty.
