KUNAR PROVINCE — Hundreds of men in April were scouring the rocky riverbed of the Kunar river in the Hindu Kush mountains of eastern Afghanistan, searching for gold dust as job opportunities in the country remain scarce. Among them was Delawar, a 45-year-old father of eight who left a construction job located seven hours from his Kabul home to join the prospectors near the Pakistan border.

"There are not many job opportunities in the country, and in this way, we have created work for ourselves," Delawar said. "The gold nuggets we find are usually smaller than a grain of wheat."

Near Kharwalu village in Kunar province, men excavate dry sections of the riverbed and wash the excavated stones with river water to search for gold. In the Ghaziabad district, hundreds of prospectors chip away at the mountainside with picks and carry heavy sacks down steep slopes to empty them onto sieves for gold filtration. Some peaks in the Hindu Kush remain snow-capped in April.

Some workers use yellow jerrycans attached to long wooden handles to pour river water over sieves, allowing smaller, potentially gold-bearing stones to slide onto mats. After two additional siftings, gold nuggets occasionally appear in metal pans. Gul Ahmad Jan, a 35-year-old prospector, said gold panning can yield up to about one gram of gold in one week, worth approximately 8,000 Afghani, or $125.

Afghanistan's natural resources remained largely unexploited during decades of conflict. Both domestic and international investors have shown interest in the country's mineral wealth, and Taliban authorities are actively promoting mining operations throughout Afghanistan.

Najibullah Hanif, Kunar province's information chief, estimated that thousands of people in the province now pan for gold using traditional methods sanctioned by authorities. Hanif said locals learned gold-panning techniques from miners arriving from gold-rich provinces. "Some started to dig with machines, an excavator; some locals came and asked the Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) to stop them because it destroys the river and the mountains," he said.