The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum says it has signed 36 large and small mining contracts, with a total value of $1.3 billion over the past year.

Officials from the ministry stated that these contracts include 10 large mines, 25 small mines, as well as projects related to cement, salt, marble, and a major gas extraction contract with Uzbekistan, all signed with both domestic and foreign companies.

Meanwhile, economic experts have emphasized the importance of increasing investments in the mining sector for the country’s economic growth. They have stressed that priority in mining contracts should be given to domestic companies.

“It is better to prioritize domestic investors over foreign ones,” said Kamaluddin Kakar, an economic expert.

In the meantime, members of the private sector also stated that if both foreign companies and Afghan investors can partner in the mining sector, this will not only foster investment development in the country but also bring positive changes in capacity building within the mining extraction sector.

Speaking at an event on Women’s History Month, Trump said that the Biden administration gave much of the US military equipment to Afghanistan, worth billions of dollars.

“Maybe we will have to ask for that back, although it is getting a little old now. We are building new stuff,” he said.

Trump had earlier said that if Afghanistan wants aid from America, the Islamic Emirate must return US military equipment left behind during the 2021 troop withdrawal.

However, the Islamic Emirate has said that the equipment it has seized is war spoils and will not be returned.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that terrorism has increased in his country and negotiations with neighboring Afghanistan are the only way forward.

In a message posted on X on Thursday, Imran Khan said his government had been engaged in direct talks with the then Afghan government despite strained relations and had successfully eliminated terrorism over three years.

He added that after the end of his tenure, the adoption of Biden’s policy led to numerous issues, and today, the public is bearing the consequences in the form of increased terrorism. 

Imran Khan criticized that the foreign minister of the current Pakistani government has not yet visited Afghanistan and has not undertaken any serious diplomatic initiatives.