China has significantly expanded its footprint in Afghanistan following the US withdrawal, securing major mining contracts under the Taliban government that critics say are leaving local communities worse off, according to a report by The National Interest. The findings raise fresh questions about Beijing's extractive economic model in conflict-affected states.

How China Built Its Afghan Foothold

As Western nations shuttered their embassies and pulled diplomatic staff after the Taliban takeover, China kept its mission in Kabul open and cultivated a working relationship with the new rulers. Unlike Western governments, Beijing attached no conditions related to human rights — a posture the Taliban found attractive as it sought revenue and legitimacy.

China has since emerged as one of Afghanistan's largest trading partners. The Taliban's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and Ministry of Industry and Commerce are reportedly hiring and training hundreds of Dari- and Pashto-speaking Afghans who also speak Chinese, tasked with guiding prospective investors to mineral sites and facilitating deals, according to the report.

Key Contracts and Investment Commitments

In January 2023, the Taliban signed a 25-year contract with Chinese firm Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. to extract oil from the Amu Darya basin. The company has promised to invest $540 million at the site. Separately, a Chinese mining consortium holds a copper mining contract at Mes Aynak in Logar province, one of the world's largest undeveloped copper deposits.

A more recent development involves the Samti gold concession in Takhar province in northern Afghanistan, awarded by the Taliban to the China-Afghanistan Company, which began mining and processing operations in January 2026.

Local Communities Bear the Costs

Despite the Taliban government framing these deals as revenue sources for the state, communities near the extraction sites report being excluded from economic benefits while absorbing environmental and social costs. Residents near the Samti project described tensions with the mining company over the distribution of gold revenues, alleging they had received nothing while their land and livelihoods were disrupted.

In Badakhshan province, where Chinese partnerships in gold extraction have also been reported, local residents complained of losing access to land and water sources, with the report flagging concerns about large-scale environmental damage in the area. This pattern — of resource extraction deals that enrich state and corporate actors while bypassing host communities — is one that development economists have documented in other Chinese-backed projects across Africa and Central Asia.

Strategic Calculus for Beijing and Kabul

The arrangement suits both sides at the governmental level. The Taliban gains hard currency and a veneer of international economic engagement without ceding political ground on governance or rights. China, meanwhile, secures access to mineral-rich territories — including lithium, copper, and rare earths — that could be strategically significant for its own industrial supply chains.

Notably, this comes amid broader Chinese efforts to lock in resource partnerships across politically isolated states, a pattern observers have described as 'resource diplomacy.' Afghanistan's estimated $1 trillion in untapped mineral wealth makes it a high-value target in that framework.

What Comes Next

As Chinese investment deepens, scrutiny from regional powers including India is likely to intensify. New Delhi has historically regarded Chinese encroachment in its neighbourhood with concern, and Taliban-era Afghanistan sits at a sensitive geopolitical juncture involving India, Pakistan, China, and Central Asian states. Whether the Taliban government will renegotiate terms to include community-benefit clauses remains uncertain, but pressure from within affected provinces could force the issue.