The Taliban administration Thursday expressed the desire to formally become part of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious as well as far-reaching ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) as part of its efforts to rebuild war-torn Afghanistan through Chinese investment.
“We requested China to allow us to be a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt and Road Initiative… (and) are discussing technical issues today,” Afghanistan’s Acting Commerce Minister Haji Nooruddin told in an interview on the sidelines of the BRI summit in Beijing.
The reference to the “economic corridor” pertains to a significant section of the Belt and Road Initiative located in Afghanistan’s neighbour, Pakistan.
Azizi also disclosed that a technical team would soon be dispatched to China for discussions on this matter.
This announcement underlines China’s efforts to enhance its relationship with the Taliban-led government, even in the absence of recognition from other foreign governments.
Notably, China recently appointed an ambassador to Kabul, making it the first country to do so.
