War News Updates: Afghanistan's 'Conflict Jewels' Are Fueling The War

Yuki Gain   21.00.00   Comment  

War News Updates A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.

Afghanistan's 'Conflict Jewels' Are Fueling The War Jun 6th 2016, 04:00, by War News Updates Editor Men sort lapis lazuli inside a shop in Kabul, Afghanistan June 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail Reuters: Money from Afghanistan's 'conflict jewels' fuels war: activists The illegal mining of some of Afghanistan's most important minerals is funneling millions of dollars into the hands of insurgents and corrupt warlords, according to activists and officials who say the money is fuelling the conflict. The mountains of Afghanistan hold as much as $1 trillion to $3 trillion in mineral resources, according to estimates by the U.S. and Afghan governments, including world-famous lapis lazuli, a deep blue, semi-precious stone that has been mined in northern Afghanistan's Badakhshan province for thousands of years. "In the current circumstances, where 50 percent of the mining revenue is going to the Taliban, and before that it was going to armed groups, by any reasonable definition lapis is a conflict mineral," said Stephen Carter, a researcher for Global Witness, a non-profit watchdog that investigates the links between natural resources, corruption and conflict. "And that means people should think very hard about buying it," he said. Read more .... Update: Corruption soils Afghanistan's bright blue treasure (BBC) WNU Editor: It's always about the money.

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