Several residents of Badakhshan are warning about the continued deaths of miners in the province. They say that only a small number of local people are involved in mining activities, and even they are forced to pay bribes to the Taliban. According to these residents, numerous tunnels have been dug in different parts of Badakhshan in the mountains in search of gold. They state that tunnel collapses and disputes among the Taliban over gold extraction have so far claimed many lives. They add that Badakhshan’s gold is being extracted by Chinese and Turkish companies, as well as the Taliban from the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, without observing internationally accepted standards. In their view, a significant portion of the revenue from these mines goes into the pockets of Taliban officials, including Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, the Taliban’s Minister of Defense, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, the group’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, as well as Chinese companies. Meanwhile, several environmental experts, expressing concern over excessive and unregulated mining, warn that the continuation of this trend could lead to the destruction of ecological layers and serious environmental damage.

Obaidullah (pseudonym), a resident of Badakhshan, expresses concern over the deaths of people in the province during gold mining operations. He says that many tunnels have been dug in different parts of Badakhshan inside the mountains to find gold, which sometimes collapse, trapping miners inside and causing them to lose their lives.

This resident of Badakhshan adds, “Unfortunately, every year, many people lose their lives during gold mining in Badakhshan. I do not remember the exact number, but it is very high. The recent incident in which three people died under the rubble of mines in Shahr-e Buzur,g and was reported, is only a small and insignificant part of this issue. In different parts of Badakhshan, numerous tunnels have been dug inside the mountains to find gold, which sometimes collapse, trapping workers and leading to their deaths. The owners of these tunnels mostly hire poor individuals to work inside, and due to the risks involved, they themselves do not enter the tunnels.”

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