In exchange for the lifting of sanctions and the freeing of blocked central bank assets, the Taliban government has promised the United States complete investment access to Afghanistan's estimated $1 trillion in unexplored mineral resources, according to a report.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi revealed the plan in an interview as the government looks to reestablish diplomatic ties with Washington.
As the Taliban leadership seeks sanctions to be lifted and blocked assets to be released to aid one of the world's poorest nations, Afghanistan is making an outreach to the Trump administration by offering the US access to mineral resources, according to a report by The Financial Times.
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Five years after regaining control and the withdrawal of US-led NATO forces, which President Donald Trump described as "the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country," the Taliban has intensified its diplomatic efforts.
Muttaqi responded that Afghanistan would "absolutely" welcome US investments in industries including mining, infrastructure, agriculture, and trade when asked about his ties with the Trump administration.
“Relations between Afghanistan and the United States should not be assessed through the lens of the past 20 years of war, but rather based on future co-operation,” Muttaqi told the FT in his office in Kabul. “Our economic policy is open.”
Muttaqi did not clarify if the White House had received that presentation directly.
According to geological investigations conducted by the US and the government of Afghanistan, which the West supports, the nation possesses at least $1 trillion in mineral resources, including substantial amounts of copper, iron ore, niobium, cobalt, gold, and lithium, which are largely unexplored due to decades of fighting.
More than $7 billion in mining investments for gold, gemstones, and chromite—which is used to make steel—have been announced by the Taliban since 2021 with nations including China and Iran.
Afghanistan is still among the world's poorest countries, with over 14 million people, or roughly one-third of the population, suffering from severe hunger, despite analysts saying the country is safer now that the NATO war has ended.
Additionally, the Taliban has imposed harsh limits on women's and girls' access to public life, business, and education by enforcing a strict interpretation of sharia law.
Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group's head, was given an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court last year on charges of gender-based persecution.
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"There should be no moves to normalise the Taliban de facto authorities, including by accepting diplomats or holding meetings in capitals, without demonstrated, measurable progress against human rights benchmarks, particularly for women and girls," UN experts said last month.
Prospective investors would have to deal with UN and Western sanctions against key Taliban officials, notably Muttaqi, who has spent decades at the top of the Islamist group's leadership, according to foreign diplomats in Kabul.
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