For The Love Of Lapis

The saga of Afghan lapis lazuli

- Steve Voynick

In July 2019, military forces of the Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) wrested control of Badakhshãn Province from the western-backed central government of Afghanistan. A rugged mountain province in northeast Afghanistan, sparsely populated Badakhshãn has relatively little economic significance—except for the remote upper Kokcha Valley, where Sar-e-Sang (or Sar-i-Sang) is the world’s premier source of lapis lazuli.

Just a few years earlier, the Afghan government had launched a program to develop the Sar-e-Sang lapis lazuli resource in a manner that would benefit the nation. But that hope is gone, at least for now, and the fall of Badakhshãn is having many ramifications: The Afghan government has lost a potential source of income; all newly mined lapis lazuli is being smuggled into Pakistan, and the Taliban is reaping millions of dollars per year in profit.

LONG AND INVOLVED HISTORY

Afghanistan has long been synonymous with lapis lazuli. This central-Asian nation has produced roughly 95 percent of all the lapis ever mined throughout history. The only other commercially significant supplies come from Russia, Chile, and the United States, but lapis from these sources does not match the Afghan material in color intensity, pyrite glitter, and overall visual appeal.

The saga of Afghan lapis reads like an epic of historical fiction that James Michener might have written. It was the first gemstone ever to be systematically mined and one of the most prized commodities carried by the ancient Silk Road caravans that once culturally and economically linked Asia, Africa, and Europe. As a gemstone, pigment, and inlay material, Afghan lapis has played major roles in Egyptian, Islamic, and European art.