GHAZNI CITY The Taliban have started digging gold in Maqur district ofsouthern Ghazni province with the help of Pakistani engineers, residentssaid on Wednesday, but the rebels rejected the claim.

Haji Obaidullah, a tribal elder in Maqur district told Pajhwok Afghan Newsthat the gold mine was located in Koh Band area which had been underTaliban control over the last several years.

“The Zarkashan Mountain which contains a gold mine is being dug by theTaliban with the help of Pakistani engineers,” he claimed.

Earlier, local people had revolted against the Taliban over the miningissue, but the militants pressured the people into leaving the area, theelder said.

Haji Gheyasuddin, another tribal elder of the district, said the Talibanhad captured Maqur areas that contained gold mines.

“The Taliban do not want to fight in Maqur and that is the reason thedistrict is stable,” he added.

He said the government was yet to launch any operation in areas under theTaliban in Maqur.

Noorullah, who has been displaced from Koh Band area, said: “We rose inarms against the Taliban to capture Zarkashan area from them and hand itover to the government.”

He said the government did not support them and they were forced to leavethe area to the Taliban.

“The government did not help us and 150 families who lived near theZarkashan Mountain were displaced to the center of Maqur district, now theyare living here,” he said.

A number of other residents of the district held similar views.

However, the governor’s spokesman, Mohammad Arif Noori, said that theTaliban had no ability to extract gold from Zarkashan mine.

“There are no Pakistanis in the area and the mine is under no threat to belooted because extracting a mineral needs advanced machines and huge amountof money which the Taliban do not have and Pakistanis cannot bring them,”he said.

He said some specific groups were encouraging tribal elders to express suchstatements.

Maqor district shares border with Nawa district of Ghazni province. Nawashares border with Pakistan link> and hasbeen under Taliban control over the past 15 years.

On the other hand, the Taliban confirmed extraction of the mine butrejected involvement of their members.

The group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the mine was beingextracted by local people.

“Taliban are not involved in extracting this mine, it is extracted by localpeople and we do not interfere because the people who are working there arepoor,” he said.

Besides Zarkashan, mines in other parts of the country are also illegallyextracted due to the government’s lack of control.