37BloombergBusinessweek/SEPTEMBER2,2019THEELEMENTSHAJIGAK:
MAURICIO
LIMA/THE
NEW
YORK
TIMES/REDUX
“MPsstartedfightingamongstthem-
selves,”sherecalls.“Theywereblaming
eachother,like,‘Whydidwedothis?’” In
theend,Ghanikeptheronwithoutpush-
backfromparliament.“Isaid,‘Nowthat
youdidn’tgivemethevote,thatmeansI
candoubleandtriplemyreform.’”
NehanwasborninKabul,amiddle
childwiththreebrothersandfivesis-
ters.Whenshewas11,herfamilyfled
the Sovietoccupation,and shegrew
upinPakistanasa refugee.Shewasa
voraciousstudent,eagertolearnmore
thanlocalschoolscouldoffer,butAfghan
families traditionallyprioritize male
children’seducation,andtherewere
ninekidstoconsider.Still,herfather
foundthemoney.“Hesaid,‘What I saw
inyouI didn’tseeinyourbrothers and
therestofthesisters,’” sheremembers.
Sherepaidthistrustbygraduating
froma universityinPeshawarand get-
tinga jobwitha foreignnongovernmen-
talorganization,becomingthefamily’s
main breadwinner. Shereturned to
Kabulin2002,intheaftermathof the
U.S.-led invasion.Thecity was shat-
tered,butit wasfullofopportunities forA
s a femalepoliticianina country
wheremanywomenstillstrug-
gleforbasicrights,NargisNehan
is usedtostandingout.InDecember2017,
atage38,shewastheonlywomanof
12 actingministersseekingconfirma-
tiontothecabinetbyAfghanistan’spar-
liament.Winningapprovaltoremain
headoftheministryofminesandpetro-
leumwasthehighest-profiletestofher
politicalcareer—andinitiallyit seemed
likeshe’dfailed.
Afghanistan’srugged,landlockedter-
rainholdsvastmineralwealth,including
Hajigak,oneoftheworld’slargestiron
deposits,aswellascopper,gold,lith-
ium,chromite,manganese-richforms
ofcolumbiteandtantalite,preciousand
semipreciousstones,rare-earthmetals,
anduranium.Someestimatespegthe
collectivevalueofthese resourcesat
$1trillionormore—iftheycanbebrought
tomarketdespiteextremesecurity,logis-
tical,andpoliticalchallenges.
When President Ashraf Ghani
appointed Nehan actingminister in
2016,witha mandatetoreformthesec-
torandattractinternationalinvestment,
she knew she’d befightingcorrupt,
entrenchedinterests.“Ineverlearned
theartofkeepingquiet,andI don’twant
tolearnit,”shesays,sittinginherheavily
guardedofficeinKabul.Bythetimeshe
cameupforconfirmation,she’dbeenin
thejobalmosta year.She’dupsetsome
powerfulpeoplebycancelinga num-
berofirregular-lookingcontracts,and
she’drefused,shesays,toengageinthe
horse-tradingandbriberythatcommonly
precedeconfirmationvotes. “Allmy
friendsweretellingme,‘Look,you’re
goingtolose,’” Nehansays.Theyproved
correct.“DeepdownI kindofknew,”she
says.Yetit stungtolearnshe’dbeenthe
onlyonerejected.
Theapparentsexismofthedecision
broughtanoutcryfromcivilsociety. Construction of a road leading to HajigakByMatthieuAikins Nargis Nehan is
working to reform
a troubled ministry
and get Afghanistan’s
vast mineral resources
out of the groundPhotograph by Kiana Hayeri
anEnglish-speaking,computer-literate
Afghan woman. She helped open the
Norwegian Refugee Council’s office,
then was hired by Afghanistan’s minis-
try of finance.
Nehan considers two people to be
inspirations for her career. The first is
Mahatma Gandhi. The second is Ghani.
One of the raft of Afghans who were
abroad during the country’s decades of
war, he’d pursued an academic career
before returning to become finance min-
ister and develop a reputation as a fastid-
ious reformer. Even though Nehan was
just 23, Ghani appointed her director gen-
eral of the treasury, where she oversaw
its computerization. When he left the
ministry, she followed him to become a
vice chancellor at Kabul University and
then to a number of increasingly senior
government roles.
Nehan joined Ghani’s team as an
adviser when he became president in
2014, but she was soon diagnosed with
breast cancer. After she returned from
treatment abroad, her cancer in remis-
sion, he offered her a choice of two min-
isterial positions. She chose the harder
one: mines. “I thought, Here I can do
something that will repay the trust he
has given me,” she says. “It was a totally
messed-up sector.”
Evengranted Afghanistan’s other
problems, her new portfolio was
notorious. “It’s a corrupt ministry. It’s
an anarchic ministry,” says Naser Timory,
head of advocacy and communications
for Integrity Watch, an Afghan moni-
toring group. “There is interest in min-
ing from the Afghan parliament, from