![](https://www.sopaimages.com/media/image?src=loadmore.png)
![](https://www.sopaimages.com/media/image?src=loadmore.png)
![](https://www.sopaimages.com/media/image?src=loadmore.png)
A visit to the mines of blue lapis lazuli tucked into a remote valley in the Hindu Kush in Badakhshan, Afghanistan (October 2016)
Lapis lazuli is a deep blue semi-precious stone that – in its processed form, mostly as jewellery – can be found around the world. While there are reportedly sources in other countries, virtually all lapis lazuli comes from a very few mines located on only two, three slopes of a remote valley in the Hindu Kush in the district of Keron Wa Manjon in the northeastern Afghan province of Badakhshan, where it is mined since millennia. Since January 2014 the district of Keron Wa Manjon, including the lapis lazuli mines, is virtually ruled by a local militia led by Hoji Abdul Malek that is neither affiliated with the Taliban, nor other insurgents, nor the Afghan government. However, as the Afghan government deems the unregulated mining illegal, it incrementally began to block the transport of extracted lapis lazuli from the mines – first on the easy route to the provincial capital Fayzabad and later, reportedly somewhen in the first half of 2016, also on the route over the Anjumon Pass, a high underdeveloped mountain pass via which traders tried to circumvent the embargo. Since then, mining came to a virtual standstill and, during a visit in October 2016, the once bustling mining encampment Mahdan-i Lojward (on maps often indicated as Sar-i Sang) was mostly deserted. Nonetheless, some smaller amounts of lapis lazuli might still be mined and smuggled through the embargo. Despite various reports about a Taliban presence in or near the mines, there was no sign of such a presence during the mentioned visit. Allegations that Hoji Abdul Malek and his militia pay off the Taliban with money generated from the mining are rejected by Hoji Abdul Malek and all locals; this could, however, not be independently verified. At the time of the visit, the government had only a nominal presence in Keron Wa Manjon.