KABUL – With the peace process between the US and the Taliban approachingits fruition, China has reportedly looked into the possibility of expandingthe China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to the war-ravaged Central Asiancountry, Sputnik reported on Tuesday.
A trilateral meeting between Pakistan, China, and Afghanistan will takeplace this Saturday in Islamabad, the source quoted a diplomatic channel inPakistan as saying.
“One of the major topics of the meeting will be the expansion of theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan and of course theAfghan peace process,” the official added.
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and his Chinese counterpart WangYi will attend the meeting in Islamabad while Foreign Minister S.M. Qureshiwill represent the Pakistani side.
The statement came against the backdrop of the announcement of along-awaited peace deal in war-torn Afghanistan between the US and theTaliban earlier this week.
The US special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, told an Afghan newschannel in Kabul that the US would withdraw some 5,000 troops fromAfghanistan within 135 days of signing the peace deal with the Taliban.
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|We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and openthe door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honourable andsustainable peace and a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does notthreaten the United States, its allies, or any other country”, ZalmayKhalilzad tweeted on 1 September after the conclusion of another round oftalks in Doha.
China and Pakistan have been exploring ways to expand the $50 billion CPECto Afghanistan since last November.
Media reports suggest that Beijing has proposed to lay a railway line fromPeshawar to Kabul or even up to Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan by 2030.
