The Taliban administration expressed its desire to formally participate inthe Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructureproject. To facilitate this, Afghanistan’s acting commerce ministerdisclosed that a technical team would be dispatched to China fordiscussions. Despite the absence of recognition from other foreigngovernments, Beijing has been actively seeking to enhance its relationshipwith the Taliban-led government since it assumed power in 2021.
Notably, China made a significant move by appointing the first ambassadorto Kabul, distinguishing itself from other nations, which retained theirprevious ambassadors or appointed heads of mission in a charge d’affairescapacity, thus refraining from formally presenting credentials to theTaliban government.
During an interview following the conclusion of the Belt and Road Forum inBeijing, Acting Commerce Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi stated thatAfghanistan has approached China with a request to become part of theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative. The term”economic corridor” pertains to a prominent section of the Belt and RoadInitiative located in Afghanistan’s neighboring country, Pakistan.
Azizi further revealed the administration’s intention to send a technicalteam to China to gain a better understanding of the issues that might behindering Afghanistan’s participation in the initiative. However, he didnot provide specific details regarding the obstacles.
Read Top Stories
Of significant interest is Afghanistan’s potential to provide China withvaluable mineral resources. Several Chinese companies, including theMetallurgical Corp. of China Ltd (MCC), have been operating in the region.MCC has engaged in discussions with both the Taliban administration and theprevious Western-backed government, exploring plans for a substantialcopper mine.