Afghanistan to extract crude oil from northern province

The Taliban have decided to extract crude oil from a key oil basin in the northern province of Afghanistan to increase local products, media reports said on Saturday.

This is the second major economic project inaugurated over the past month.

The first phase of the project in Sari Pul province would see a daily production of 200 tons of crude oil, Xinhua News Agency reported citing the government release.

Taliban's Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said that the income generated from the production would be collected by the country's central bank.

However, Ghani Baradar didn't say if the crude oil would be refined inside the country or sent abroad.

( With inputs from ANI )