Mes Aynak, a Buddhist-era archaeological site spread around 1000 hectares surrounding Baba Wali mountains in Logar province of eastern Afghanistan, around 40 km south of Kabul city, is also one of the richest sources of copper reserves. The word ‘Mes Aynak’ itself means a little source of copper. This mine deposit contains 5.5 million metric tons of high-quality copper, making it the second largest copper reserves in the world. But Mes Aynak is also connected to an ancient Buddhist site dating back 200 BCE. 

The Afghanistan Geological Survey has identified 1400 such sites in the country that are mineral rich and economically significant. Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic past consisting of Bronze and Buddhist era artefacts was highlighted mostly by the works of 19th century archaeologists Charies Mason and Alfred Fouher. This past was mainly promoted with an agenda to reconstruct Afghan national identity to attract internationally sponsored nation-building projects in Afghanistan. 

Mes Aynak was explored as far back in 1963 by French archaeologists. During the allocation of a mine to a Chinese firm by the earlier Taliban regime, the Afghan government engaged a French archaeological delegation to get technical support for it with World Bank funds. Afghanistan's culture and information ministry also requested surveying of the site and rescue excavation work. This excavation deadline was extended again and again despite pressure from the World Bank to expedite the process of rescue excavation to start the copper exploration project. Rescue excavation revealed remains of a huge Buddhist city with monasteries and stupas from the Kushan and Kushan-Sassanid period of 200 BCE to 800 CE.

The World Bank brokered the deal for the Mes Aynak mines with a Chinese firm to open the Afghan economy to international investment. The opportunities from mining included a boost to Afghanistan’s economic growth, employment (10000 direct and indirect jobs) and revenue generation, infrastructure development such as roads and highway construction and powerplants for electricity generation.

Threat to heritage sites

As far back in 2008 the Mes Aynak’s $30 billion mine project in Afghanistan was allotted to China’s Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) and Jiangxi Copper Limited, together called MCC-JCL Aynak Minerals (MJAM). MJAM agreed to construct a 400 MW coal-based power plant and railway infrastructure from Hairtan to Torkham as part of this deal. At the Tokyo conference on Afghanistan in 2012, a National and Regional Resource Corridors Program and National Extractive Industries Excellence Program were formulated. From the previous government’s estimation in 2017, Mes Aynak copper mine and Hajigak iron ore were together expected to contribute $1 billion in annual revenue to Afghanistan.

But the project would have drastically impacted the water supply in the neighboring region due to waste disposal from open-pit mining and pollution from gases from the smelting and refining process. The mining activities also posed a direct threat to Mes Aynak ancient Buddhist site. The hydrocarbon law which was drafted with the help of Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), accepted  by the then Afghan government, required protection of any archaeological site in the country. 

From 2010 to 2015, Japan was the largest contributor to the funds to preserve the Mes Aynak Buddhist heritage site. But local people not being involved resulted in rumors that Mes Aynak was sold out to the Japanese or UNESCO. The copper exploitation in Mes Aynak was projected as a  struggle between good and evil forces or more clearly a choice between heritage preservation and economic benefits for a nation in dire economic distress. 

The US organization, Association for Restoration of Cultural Heritage (ARCH), led an active campaign on the threat to heritage sites at Mes Aynak and filed a complaint to the World Bank, the lead negotiator for the mining deal. The Mes Aynak site was stuck between the binary of heritage preservation and economic benefits from mining. The result was the mining contract to the Chinese got put off for a decade. US embassy and French archaeologists organized a number of exhibition events for the objects recovered from Mes Aynak’s excavation. Heritage preservation was seen as an antidote to the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha and the Chinese mining contract was seen in that destructive light.

Former US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the broker of Doha deal of 2020, along with his wife were prominent lobbyists for the Mes Aynak preservation agenda and was critical of China's mining company. Mes Aynak was stuck between heritage preservation and economic benefits with rival lobbying of regional and international investors, heritage conservation agencies, and archaeologists from Afghanistan and the West.

China grabs the opportunity

The Taliban regime saw the Mes Aynak mining contract as an essential lifeline to Afghanistan’s floundering economy, which has contracted by almost 30% after three years of Taliban rule. The Taliban long had its eyes on the country's untapped mineral resources. They had extracted a lot of revenue from the Lapis Lazuli mines in Badakhshan that contributed an estimated $4 million for their insurgency operations. Zabihullah Mujahid, the official spokesperson for the Taliban government, stated “until there is the transfer of and protection of historical monuments, we have more work to be done; the construction of an electricity plant and a road and an airport are also planned there”. The Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture has already notified transfer of over 10,000 ancient Buddhist artefacts from Mes Aynak to the National Museum at Kabul and the mining project has become a top priority for the Taliban government and it has pledged security for both the archaeological site and China’s mining employees. 

China has sought to grab this crucial mining opportunity due to the absence of major power competition in Afghanistan. Beijing's previous efforts were foiled but currently it is the only major power willing to make a bet on the Taliban government. In 2023, the official mining deal was signed between Afghan Deputy PM for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar and Chinese Ambassador Zhao Xing. Both view this project as the start of a new era of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. 

After 16 years of delay, in July, 2024, Taliban and Chinese officials along with the investors carried out the ceremonial ribbon cutting for the mining infrastructure. The mining area is heavily guarded by armed men from the Taliban group due to an attack on Chinese businessmen at the Kabul Hotel in 2022. China has already experienced insurgent attacks on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The fate of Mes Aynak and the Afghan economy depends upon how much China is ready to bet on this project. A lot will depend upon the security guarantees provided by the Taliban government and the regional security scenario.

(The writer is a Ph.D. Scholar at the MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Views are personal. He can be contacted at navneet2009074@st.jmi.ac.in )