At any price we will take the mines: the Islamic State, the Taliban, and Afghanistan’s white talc mountains

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Global Witness, 25 May 2018

This new report by the NGO Global Witness provides a rare and detailed insight in an aspect of the political and resources economy of the Afghan war – looking at one of the less ‘sexy’ minerals, talc. While some media picked it up under headlines such as “Baby powder helping fund Islamic State in Afghanistan: report” or “Western consumers fund extremism by buying talcum powder, claims study”, the report itself is refreshingly honest about that we do not know sufficient how much talc mining ISKP is really doing.