Economy, Mining

Large natural gas deposits in northern Afghanistan were exploited jointly with the USSR starting in 1967. In the 1980s large quantities of natural gas were exported to the USSR, but that was terminated after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989. Oil has been found to the north of the Hindu Kush in large reserves, but it remains unexploited. Afghanistan is the world’s only source of high-grade lapis lazuli and has major copper and iron deposits. Most of these resources also have not been exploited, primarily because decades of warfare severely impeded economic development.