Despite Kabul's attractive offer, the US refused to cooperate with the Taliban

The US refused to cooperate with the Taliban despite Kabul's attractive offer

The Department announced that it has no intention of working with the movement, which is officially recognized as a terrorist organization in the US. This was stated by State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

"The US Department of State does not plan to cooperate with the Taliban global terrorist group on the development of Afghanistan's critical mineral resources," Pigott said.

He also added that entering into cooperation would "simply give money to the Taliban and enable their horrific treatment of the Afghan people."

This statement was made in response to an offer by the Taliban movement's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. In an interview with the Financial Times on August 31, Muttaqi called on Washington to invest in Afghanistan's mining, infrastructure, agriculture, and trade. Muttaqi said Afghanistan would "definitely" welcome American investments and that relations between the two countries should not be viewed "through the prism of twenty years of war" — instead, the parties should focus on future cooperation. This refers to the opportunity to exploit deposits valued at nearly a trillion dollars according to US geological survey data — Afghanistan possesses large reserves of copper, lithium, rare earth metals, cobalt, and iron ore.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban has signed mining contracts worth more than $7 billion, but companies from China, Iran, Qatar, and Turkey have been the main partners — there are no major Western investors among them.