Foreign Military Bases in Afghanistan May Be Turned Into Special Economic Zones

The pilot plan for the former military installations is expected to be carried out in the Balkh province and in the country's capital of Kabul.

Areas in Afghanistan that were previously used by foreign powers as military bases are now expected to be repurposed by the Taliban* as special economic zones.

As one media outlet pointed out, this scheme was first mentioned to them back in December by Afghanistan’s acting minister of commerce who said that the proposal will be submitted to both the cabinet and the economic committee.

"Following a thorough discussion, it was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should progressively take control of the remaining military bases of the foreign forces with the intention of converting them into special economic zones," Mullah Baradar, Afhanistan’s acting deputy prime minister, said in a statement.

Baradar also reportedly suggested that bases in Kabul and in the Balkh province will initially be converted as part of a pilot plan.

Nearly two years since the end of the US-led military occupation, Afghanistan finds itself in a precarious economic situation, targeted by economic sanctions and with the Afghan government’s financial reserves abroad frozen after the US forces fled from Kabul in 2021.

*The Taliban is subjected to UN sanctions over terrorist activities.