Gravitas | Taliban dangles $1 trillion mineral carrot before dealmaker Trump

Is offering access to mineral wealth the best way to win over U.S. President Donald Trump?

Five years after U.S. forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban is now seeking American investment in exchange for lifting of global sanctions and return of its frozen assets.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Afghanistan's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi stated that his country would absolutely welcome U.S. investment in mining, infrastructure, agriculture and trade. He even invited U.S. to reopen its abandoned embassy in Kabul.

He said and I am quoting him, "Relations between Afghanistan & U.S. should not be assessed through the lens of the past 20 years of war, but rather on the basis of future co-operation".

This is a remarkable turnaround by the same Taliban which fought with U.S. forces for two decades.

Muttaqi asserted that Afghanistan's economic policy is now open.

Now, Taliban's appeal is seen as a bid to end its international isolation while multiple countries including India and China have established a working relationship with the Taliban-led administration, Russia is the only country to have formally recognised its government so far.

Taliban has also been seeking the release of nearly 9.5 billion U.S. dollars in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank which were frozen by the U.S. since it took power in 2021.

This remains vital at a time when 14 million Afghans are facing acute hunger and child malnutrition levels have reached a record high.

Sanctions remain another sticking point.

Taliban is still designated as a terror organisation by multiple countries including U.S.

Also, top Taliban leaders including PM Hasan Akhund, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and Muttaqi continue to face UN sanctions in the form of asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

At the centre of Taliban's offer is Afghanistan's enormous but largely untapped mineral potential.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the country is estimated to hold mineral reserves worth nearly one trillion U.S. dollars.

This includes 60 million tons of copper, 183 million tons of aluminium and 2.2 billion tonnes of iron ore.

It also reportedly holds around 1.4 million tonnes of rare earth minerals.

While Taliban has announced over seven billion U.S. dollars in mining investments since coming to power, it does not necessarily imply that the projects are operational.

However, this pitch may appeal to Trump who have been focused on ensuring supply of critical minerals and reducing its reliance on China.

For Afghanistan, the issue remains that it lacks infrastructure requiring for mining on such a large scale.

It is also worth noting that U.S. signed the Doha Agreement with Taliban, in 2020 during Trump's first term as U.S. President.

Under this agreement, Taliban guaranteed that Afghan soil won't be used to threaten the security of U.S. and its allies.

Since coming to power, Taliban has also cracked down on Islamic State-Khorasan Province or ISKP, which U.S. too perceives as a key threat.

But, so far, Afghanistan has not been a priority for the Trump administration, which even turned a blind eye to Pakistani air strikes there.

Last year though, Trump demanded the return of the Bagram Airbase, which was once its largest BASE in Afghanistan.

However, Taliban has rejected any foreign military presence on Afghan soil.

Listen in to what Trump said...

This is not the first time, when a country has tried to hard-sell its mineral resources to get into Trump's good books.

For instance, Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir showed off the rare earth mineral potential of his country to Trump, at the White House last year.

Subsequently, the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved financing of 1.25 billion U.S. dollars to support the mining of critical minerals at Reko Diq in Balochistan.

While Taliban is desperately seeking international recognition, it continues to face flak globally, for its non-inclusive government, exclusion of women from public life, by restricting their right to education and work and use of corporal punishment.