The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack. The majority of lapis from Afghanistan is exported to China for jewelry.
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Armed groups earned an estimated $19.9 million in 2014, and a local strongman identified as Abdul Malek has paid almost $5 million in protection money to the Taliban over the last two years from his mining proceeds, the report said.
The gunmen stormed a provincial court in Pul-i-Alam, said Saleem Saleh, spokesman for the governor of eastern Logar province.
The report warned that due to similar situations nationwide, mining was already “the Taliban’s second biggest source of income”.
Afghanistan’s mineral and petrochemical assets are believed to be worth billions of dollars, but the government does not have the money or expertise to develop them, and worldwide firms are deterred by the security situation, which is deteriorating.
The militants have been waging an insurgency against the Afghan government since being ousted in 2001.
“The Afghan lapis lazuli stone should now be classified as a conflict mineral”, it said.
Ghani told reporters Sunday that “any mistake we have made in the management of our natural resources we will pay for, for the next 200 years”.
The mining sector across the country is plagued by corruption and conflict, with as many as 10,000 deposits estimated to be outside government control, according to a report released on Sunday by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.
The total earned by armed groups in 2014 was $19.9 million, the group added, noting that a local strong man identified as Abdul Malek had paid $750,000 in protection money to the Taliban out of proceeds from the illegal lapis lazuli mining.
The head of the court was among those killed in the attack, which comes as the Taliban step up their annual spring offensive after naming a new leader late last month.
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The government in Kabul has undertaken a series of initiatives for peace with the group, although fighting continues unabated across the country.
