The Kabul Tribune (KT) — A total of 3,208 carats of emeralds extracted from mines in Panjshir province were sold for $139,400 through an open bidding process, a Taliban official said.
Saifuddin Laton, spokesman for the Taliban authorities in Panjshir, said the gemstones were sold Tuesday by the province’s Department of Mines and Petroleum to domestic traders.
Laton added that in a separate auction held last week, 11,842 carats of emeralds from the province’s mines were sold for 4.77 million Afghanis to local traders.
Panjshir is considered one of Afghanistan’s key mineral-rich regions and is known for producing high-quality emeralds that are valued in both domestic and international markets.
In recent years, the extraction and sale of these mines have become an important source of revenue for the Taliban.
