China, Pakistan 'ready' to help in Afghanistan's reconstruction

The foreign minister of Afghanistan's Taliban government, which is not recognised by any other nation, has held talks with his counterparts from Pakistan and China during a rare visit abroad.

Amir Khan Muttaqi is barred by international sanctions from leaving Afghanistan but was granted an exemption for a trip to Islamabad for Saturday's talks.

Officials said the one-day gathering was focused on how best to help Afghanistan improve security and enhance economic stability.

"Our message consistently to the Afghan authorities has been 'help us help you'," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told media.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said both Beijing and Islamabad were "ready to actively support Afghanistan with its economic reconstruction".

"We hope that the Taliban will embrace inclusive governance and moderate policies and maintain friendly relations with its neighbours," he told reporters.

China and Pakistan are Afghanistan's most important neighbours, with Beijing eyeing the vast untapped mineral resources that lie across their tiny shared border, and Islamabad wary of huge security risks along their much longer common frontier.

Formal relationship

With the minister for commerce and industry in tow, the Afghan delegation was one of the most high-profile to travel abroad since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces and collapse of the Western-backed government.

"The biggest significance of this summit is that at this moment, as we understand it, no regional economic future is possible without the stability of Afghanistan," said Maria Sultan, director general of the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute.

"It is also important that a formal relationship should be established, and this is only possible if there is working reconstruction of the diplomatic track," she told the AFP news agency.

"These meetings will intensify speculation that China and Pakistan are two of the few countries willing to engage closely with the Taliban, and perhaps even hold open the possibility of recognition down the road," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at The Wilson Centre.

Afghanistan is facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, international aid agencies say, with its 38 million population hungry and three million children at risk of malnutrition.

Qin, making his first visit to Pakistan since being appointed in December, also held bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart.

China has been Pakistan's key defence ally since the Cold War and also its most vital economic partner through loans and infrastructure projects totalling billions of dollars.