The original locality for lapis lazuli is the Sar-e-Sang deposit in Afghanistan's remote Badakhshan district. In the Achaemenid period, azure was called "Kabutkeh". In the Sassanid period, azure was consumed a lot. The roof of Ctesiphon, as well as various sculptures, is made of azure; it is possible that they used azurite instead of azure in making these works. 

The formation of rocks, which are sandstones, is such that they are permeable to water and their porosity is such that they can hold large amounts of water, which makes them precious watersheds. Fine-grained watersheds such as sandstones are more prone to filtering contaminants from the surface than rocks such as limestone and other rocks formed by seismic activity. 

In 2010, US Pentagon officials, along with US geologists, uncovered approximately $ 1 trillion in untapped mineral reserves in Afghanistan. A Pentagon note says Afghanistan could become Saudi Arabia's lithium. Some believe that intact minerals are worth up to $ 3 trillion.