The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that it has appointed 10 Ulema and Hafiz (Quran memorizers) to monitor the extraction of gold mines in Baghlan province.

The MoMP said in a statement that the appointed people are tasked with monitoring and to prevent "arbitrary" extraction from mines, and to prevent corruption in the Qara Zaghan gold mine in Baghlan.

Every individual will be paid a 15,000 Afs salary per month.

“All technical work at the Qara Zaghan gold mine will be conducted by experienced experts and engineers and these individuals will not interfere with the technical work of the mine,” the statement reads.

Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that efforts are underway to alleviate poverty in the country.

“Serious work is underway to alleviate the poverty and unemployment crisis. The ministries are making serious efforts to provide job opportunities for the people. In this regard, a big process is under development in the mine sector, so the people can find jobs,” he said.

The Afghanistan Chamber of Industry and Mines meanwhile said it welcomed the decision as there have always been concerns over corruption in the mines sector.

“The decision was made to monitor the gold mine, we welcome any honest Afghan, whether they are Hafiz or Ulema,” said Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, head of the ACIM.

Economists gave various opinions regarding the appointment of Hafiz (Quran memorizers) and Ulema members to monitor the process of mine extraction.

“When we appoint other people to monitor the work of the experts it costs us heavy and may even cause the project to be not practically implemented. The option is to appoint expert people through a process,” said Abdul Zahor, an economist.

“They have appointed these people within a Sharia format. They thus will not engage in corruption and will not take bribes because they are Ulema and Hafiz,” said Shams Rahman Ahmadzai, an economist.

Earlier, the MoMP said that complete transparency exists in the extraction of mines in Afghanistan.