Skip to main content
FOLLOW THE MONEY

Report: Baby Powder ‘Helping Fund’ Islamic State in Afghanistan

From the illegal mining of talc.

REUTERSMike_Segar_lriz9y

REUTERS/Mike Segar / Reuters

Islamic State militants in Afghanistan have made hundreds of thousands of dollars per year illegally mining talc, the product most famously used in baby powder, an advocacy group reported on Tuesday. According to Global Witness, 500,000 tonnes of talc were sent from Afghanistan to Pakistan in March, where it was later re-exported to the U.S. and the European Union. “Unwitting American and European consumers are inadvertently helping fund extremist groups in Afghanistan,” said Nick Donovan, the group’s campaign director.

Read it at REUTERS

TRENDING NOW