In this Monday, March 28, 2016 photo, an Afghan businessman checks lapis lazuli at his shop in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is ...

The Taliban and other armed groups earn up to $20 million a year from illegal mining of the semi-precious lapis stone from a far corner of Afghanistan, a London-based watchdog group said Monday.

In this March 28, 2016 photo, lapis lazuli is seen for sale inside a shop in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. An international anti-corruption watchdog says Afghanistan's war is being fueled by the ...

The Afghan government banned lapis lazuli mining in early 2015 because the mines could not be secured. But the mining continued with impunity, with local police and politicians reportedly ...

The journey lapis takes from deep under the earth in the valleys of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, where it’s found almost exclusively, to the grid of an Instagram seller is anything but ...

Should Afghanistan’s lapis lazuli be classified as a conflict mineral, it would oblige Kabul to regulate the mines and possibly set up a central bourse to ensure accountability and transparency ...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen ...

Afghanistan's president has thrown his support behind a push to classify lapis lazuli as a "conflict mineral" after a global advocacy group said militants _ including the Taliban _ earn up to $20 ...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president has thrown his support behind a push to classify lapis lazuli as a "conflict mineral" after a global advocacy group said Monday that militants ...