Taliban's Chinese hopes: with Pak, duo signs key Islamabad accord
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Islamabad: Taliban reaches an agreement with China and Pakistan to extend Beijing's flagship project, the Belt and Road Initiative, to Afghanistan. The agreement would benefit the Taliban billions of dollars to fund infrastructure projects after severe sanctions, Bloomberg reports.
If the Taliban wishes, it could aid two-thirds of the country's 40 million population who're living in extreme poverty, too out of the deal.
On Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met in Islamabad, where they agreed to work together to rebuild Afghanistan as well as extend the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghan.
A joint statement issued by Islamabad said that China and Pakistan agreed to continue their humanitarian and economic assistance to the Afghan people as well boosting development cooperation in the country.
Further, the Taliban expects China to increase investment in Afghanistan which has rich sources estimated to the tune of $1 trillion. In January, it had agreed with a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation to mine oil from the northern Amu Darya basin.
Meanwhile, China and Pakistan urged the unfreezing of Afghanistan's overseas financial assets since the Taliban is blocked from accessing around $9 billion of Afghanistan's central bank reserves overseas. The same is frozen after concerns of being used for terror activities.
When the US agreed to release half of the said funds last year so that the crisis-stricken country's economy would get a boost, it stopped the initiation proceedings citing the Taliban imposing hardline restrictions on women at school and work.
China, Russia and Iran are keeping warm relations with the Taliban administration in Kabul and have released tens of millions of dollars as an aid for the terrorist-turned-government but never recognized the government there.