International Desk: Afghanistan is connecting with China’s Belt and Road Initiative project. For this, China is going to invest billions of dollars in Afghanistan. Beijing signed an agreement with the Taliban government on Saturday in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for this huge investment.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met in Islamabad on Saturday and pledged to work together on the reconstruction process in Afghanistan. This commitment calls for a part of the $6 billion investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to be invested in Afghanistan.
A joint statement by Pakistan’s foreign ministry after the meeting said, “Both sides agreed to continue their humanitarian and economic assistance to the Afghan people and increase development cooperation in Afghanistan through the extension of CPEC to Afghanistan.”
Chinese and Pakistani officials had earlier discussed expanding Afghanistan under President Xi Jinping’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, which began nearly a decade ago. The cash-strapped Taliban government is ready to participate in the project and is likely to receive much-needed infrastructure investment.
The Taliban’s top diplomat, Amir Khan Muttaki, went to Islamabad to meet the Chinese and Pakistani foreign ministers and reached an agreement, Taliban government deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad said.
