With an improvised sieve and a few splashes of water, the former police officer scours a slag heap for fragments of the green gemstone, swarmed by dozens of others vying for the same prize.
"It didn't work out," said the 25-year-old. Without any source of income, he was"forced" to head for the hills.Echoing booms roll across the valley, 3,000m above sea level, as blasting teams carve out shafts crisscrossing the innards of the mountains.Systematic mining only began in the 1970s and remains largely artisanal, but the gems found here are compared to Colombian emeralds, the most sought-after on the planet.
But the last workers to arrive at the camp are relegated to the thankless, tedious and low-paid work at the mine entrances, where rickety trolleys tip out mounds of rubble. But its far-flung location is part of the attraction for Mohammadi, a seven-year veteran who was looking for sanctuary when the army crumbled as US troops withdrew in August.Many former soldiers and police officers have come here to eke out a living while evading potential reprisals for their roles in the previous Western-backed regime.
The anti-Soviet mujahideen mustered here in the 1980s, and anti-Taliban forces rallied among the ridges when the hardline Muslim group first ruled the country from 1996 to 2001.The province was the last to fall in September, but when Taliban soldiers arrived there was little resistance.
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