KABUL: Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a surprise stop in Kabul on Thursday to meet Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, officials confirmed.
Director-General of the Afghan state-run Bakhtar News Agency, Abdul Wahid Rayan, confirmed the arrival of the Chinese foreign minister in Afghanistan’s capital.
Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi received Yi on arrival in Kabul along with a high-level delegation. The two sides will hold talks on important issues, focusing on China’s role in stability and development, the state news agency said.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in #Kabul and met with Mawlavi Amir Khan #Muttaqi IEA Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kabul. pic.twitter.com/DKyKg2VRDx
— Bakhtar News Agency (@BakhtarNA) March 24, 2022
The visit comes a week before Beijing hosts a two-day conference, on March 30-31, of Afghanistan’s neighbours on how to assist the Taliban government. Pakistan and Iran had earlier hosted similar meetings of these neighbouring countries after the Taliban takeover.
Yi’s visit is the first by a senior Chinese leader after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August and comes right after he completed his three-day visit to Islamabad where he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s foreign minister’s conference as a special guest.
FM Yi last visited Kabul in June 2017 after a huge truck bomb killed and injured many. He had tried to ease tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan after exchanges of fire in May 2017 had made relations tenuous.
The Taliban, who swept to power last August with the chaotic end to 20 years of war by a U.S. and NATO coalition, have been seeking international recognition in order to open up their economy, which has been in free fall since their arrival.
China has been involved in the Afghan peace process after the US withdrew most of its troops in 2014. Taliban political representatives have paid several visits to China over the past few years.
