Is US Stealing Uranium From Afghanistan ???

Here is an interesting claim:

A member of the Afghan parliament from Helmand Province and local residents have confirmed to Sputnik Afghanistan that the US military could be smuggling uranium out of the village of Khanashin in the country's southern province of Helmand, as well as other rare elements and natural resources.

Helmand is one of the most turbulent provinces in Afghanistan, and is a center of the country's mining industry and the shadowy drug-smuggling industry. There are four deposits of uranium, magnetite, apatite and carbonite in the south of this region, in the southern village of Khanashin, just 160 km from the border with Pakistan.

You can read the rest @
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201706291055089924-afghanistan-us-uranium-opium/

I'm not sure this makes economic sense. Uranium ore is worth about $20 per pound, and flying it out of the country can't be all that cheap. And who could be the buyer(s)?

If this is happening at all, I suspect the ore is going to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries who want their own nuclear programs to counter those of Israel and Iran. But processing the ore and extracting the U-235 ain't easy, so I'm betting the Saudis are the most likely buyer.