[sergeantdave]

In fact, Afghanistan may be sitting on an estimated trillion dollars of mineral deposits.

http://www.mining.com/1-trillion-motherlode-of-lithium-and-gold-discovered-in-afghanistan/

If I were a grunt stationed there, I’d be at the local bazaars buying tourmaline and mailing it home. Well-cut tourmaline starts at about $100 per carat and can retail for as much as $30,000 per carat.

http://awesomegems.com/tourmaline-priceguide.html

[cloudmountain]

If I were a grunt stationed there, I’d be at the local bazaars buying tourmaline and mailing it home. Well-cut tourmaline starts at about $100 per carat and can retail for as much as $30,000 per carat.

Tourmaline is pretty and your idea is great.
I wonder if you would be allowed to do what you planned. I'm positive others had that idea also.
It's possible that the rulers/leaders thought of that already and have folks around to deal with that.

Tribal fealty runs deep, I assume, and watching eyes are probably everywhere, especially on foreigners.

Maybe I'm dead wrong.

[cloudmountain]

In fact, Afghanistan may be sitting on an estimated trillion dollars of mineral deposits.

Maybe they do but I seriously doubt if the money from all those semi-precious gemstones would go into any other pockets than those of the few families who are already obscenely wealthy, powerful and well-connected.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourmaline
Tourmaline (/ˈtʊərməliːn/ toor-mə-leen) is a crystalline boron silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is classified as a semi-precious stone and the gemstone comes in a wide variety of colors. The name comes from the Tamil and Sinhalese word "Turmali" (තුරමලි) or "Thoramalli" (තෝරමල්ලි), which applied to different gemstones found in Sri Lanka.