China Dangles Belt And Road Investment To Mend Taliban-Pakistan Ties

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By Reid Standish
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 20, 2025

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities are hosting a trilateral meeting with China and Pakistan on August 20, as Beijing looks to de-escalate tensions between the two countries by incentivizing cooperation through new trade and investment opportunities amid a flurry of diplomatic outreach.

The daylong meeting is expected to cover joint efforts to combat terrorism and the expansion of China’s trillion-dollar global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), into Afghanistan through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This is a $60 billion series of projects launched by Islamabad and Beijing under the umbrella of the BRI.

“Comprehensive discussions will be held on a number of important issues, including political, economic, and regional cooperation among the three countries,” Hafiz Zia Ahmad, a deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, said in a post on X ahead of the meeting.

Obtaining a formal deal to extend CPEC to Afghanistan would not only be a boost for a cash-strapped Taliban searching for international legitimacy, it would also mark a diplomatic win for Beijing as it steps up its engagement and adapts to new shifts across the region.

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is hosting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar.

Wang’s trip to Kabul follows high-profile meetings in New Delhi where Beijing looked to capitalize on tensions caused by US tariffs on Indian goods. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said an agreement was reached to tackle Beijing’s simmering border dispute with New Delhi.

Following the trip to Afghanistan, Wang will travel to Islamabad for a three-day visit ahead of the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at the end of August, where China will host leaders and top officials from Pakistan and India as well as leaders from Russia, Central Asia, Belarus, and Iran.

China’s Diplomatic Push

Although neither China nor Pakistan has formally recognized the Taliban government, Beijing has acted as a facilitator behind the scenes.

The discussions in Kabul mark the first time that officials have met since May.

That meeting saw a verbal agreement from Beijing to extend the trade and infrastructure links that it has already built up through CPEC over the past decade to Afghanistan. Pakistan also upgraded its diplomatic relations with the Taliban in its aftermath by sending its first ambassador to Kabul since the militant group seized power in 2021.

Back then, many saw the Taliban’s return as a strategic win for Pakistan, given its historical ties to the group, but relations between them have deteriorated.

Islamabad has accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing groups like Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to launch attacks across the border. The TTP, formed in 2007, shares ideological roots with the Afghan Taliban but operates independently.

The TTP has also threatened Chinese interests, particularly CPEC, where Chinese nationals working on projects in Pakistan have become a regular target for attacks. Since 2021, 14 terrorist attacks have taken place in the country targeting Chinese citizens.

China has pushed for joint law enforcement cooperation between the Taliban and Pakistan, and that appears to have accelerated since officials last met in May.

The Taliban has reportedly pledged it would not allow Afghan territory to be used for TTP operations, and China’s special envoy on Afghan affairs, Yue Xiaoyong, visited both Afghanistan and Pakistan in July.

Is China Ready To Extend CPEC To Afghanistan?

CPEC was framed as a flagship part of the BRI when it was launched in 2015, but it has since become something of a cautionary tale for China as it has grappled with delayed projects, cost overruns, security concerns, and escalating debt stress in Pakistan.

Since then, Beijing has been reluctant to greenlight large-scale projects for CPEC and has since sought to see through its most viable pre-existing ones.

That caution will also follow any movement on integrating Afghanistan into the infrastructure project.

Beijing’s interest in linking Afghanistan to BRI through CPEC predates the Taliban’s return to power, but limited practical progress has been made despite a renewed interest from China in Afghanistan’s substantial mineral and resource wealth.

It still remains uncertain at what pace China will look to formally incorporate Afghanistan.

Improving relations between the Taliban and Islamabad and improving security cooperation are precursors that Beijing will look to build on that progress through its meetings this month.

But implementing projects on the ground in Afghanistan has always proved difficult and any new projects on an extended CPEC will have to contend with a still volatile security situation on the ground.

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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71 Dead In Bus Crash in Afghanistan Carrying Migrants Expelled From Iran

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Afghanistan International: At least 71 people, including 17 children, were killed when a passenger bus carrying Afghan migrants deported from Iran collided with a truck and a motorcycle on a highway in western Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday. Taliban police blamed the accident on the bus driver’s “high speed and recklessness.” Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed governor of Herat, told Agence France-Presse the passengers had recently been expelled from Iran and were en route to Kabul. Click here to read more (external link).

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Afghanistan International: Pakistan Today has reported that the Afghan Taliban are providing regular financial support to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including monthly payments of about three million Afghanis (USD 43,000) to the family of the group’s leader, Noor Wali Mehsud. According to the report, the funds are used to purchase weapons, develop military infrastructure, and organise attacks against Pakistan. Click here to read more (external link).

Septic Systems: The Silent Threat to Health and Kabul’s Groundwater

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8am: Septic systems in Kabul city are among the issues that have received less attention and have recently raised concerns among a large number of residents of this city. At the same time, several environmental experts also consider the existence of these systems as a serious threat to public health and a factor in increasing groundwater pollution. They say that this issue not only exacerbates the water shortage crisis but also brings heavy economic and social consequences. A number of Kabul residents say that the existence of septic systems has increased their concerns about increasing groundwater pollution. They describe the continuation of this situation as dangerous and emphasize that even now, clean and drinkable water is hardly found. Click here to read more (external link).

Khalilzad says former Afghan elites seeking to regain past privileges

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Khalilzad

Amu: Former US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday that Afghanistan continues to face severe economic struggles, restrictions on girls’ education and efforts by former political leaders to reclaim privileges they lost after the Taliban takeover. In a message on Afghanistan’s Independence Dya, Khalilzad said former Afghan elites and leaders, who he argued “failed to take advantage of two decades of major opportunities,” are now seeking to “regain their past benefits.” Khalilzad’s comments come as he faces mounting criticism from Afghan politicians, human rights activists and women’s rights defenders, who accuse him of acting as a Taliban lobbyist and of attempting to whitewash the group’s policies. Click here to read more (external link).

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World Food Program Warns Of ‘Unprecedented’ Hunger Crisis In Afghanistan

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By Ray Furlong and Omid Marzban
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
August 18, 2025

Kabul residents have told RFE/RL that they are begging for rice and “ready to accept death,” as the World Food Program (WFP) said it was “turning hundreds of thousands of people away” from nutrition centers.

WFP Country Director John Aylieff said drought, dramatic aid cuts, and the forced return of 1.5 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan had combined to create “rising acute malnutrition” in the poverty-stricken country.

“We need to do everything we can to avoid famine,” he told RFE/RL. “It could be unprecedented because during the winter, there could be 10 to 15 million people needing food assistance. And at the moment, we have no funding and there will be no response.”

For the coming six months, the WFP in Afghanistan said it requires nearly $539 million for all programs to reach the most vulnerable families across the country.

But multiple donors have slashed contributions. For 2025, the WFP in Afghanistan said it received some $155 million. This compares with nearly $560 million the year before, and nearly $1.6 billion in 2022.

“The US has been a phenomenally generous donor in Afghanistan for decades, providing the lion’s share of humanitarian assistance, along with other generous donors from around the world,” Aylieff said.

“Now is not the moment for anyone to reduce or walk away.”

RFE/RL has asked the White House for comment. In his first few months in office, President Donald Trump cut more than 7,400 foreign aid programs globally worth $80 billion, according to a report published last month by Senate Democrats.

A State Department spokesman told RFE/RL on August 4 that “over the last approximately four years, foreign assistance intended for the people of Afghanistan was systematically diverted and expropriated by the Taliban — a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”

Nearly four years since their takeover of Afghanistan, “it is due time that the Taliban provide for the welfare of the Afghan people,” the spokesman added.

‘Ready To Accept Death’

The situation has devastating results for people like 42-year-old Kabul resident Gul Dasta. She used to work as a cleaner at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry. When the Taliban seized power in August 2021, they announced a ban on women working in government offices, and she was fired.

Dasta’s husband has severe diabetes and cannot work. The couple have a 9-year-old son and two daughters, aged 14 and 16. They have not received an international food aid package for five months.

“There have been days that we had nothing to eat. I have boiled some rice that I begged from the neighbors and fed my children with. Every day in life is so difficult. There have been days that I cried all day,” she told RFE/RL in a phone interview.

Another Kabul resident we spoke to broke down in tears during the call.

Abeda, 54, is a widow who lives with her 15-year-old son, 26-year-old widowed daughter, and two grandchildren. She was a cleaner at a girls’ high school until the Taliban closed it as part of a campaign against education for females.

“Last Thursday I had nothing at home. Not even potatoes or tomatoes. I hated my life. Life is full of pain and trouble. Last Thursday I was even ready to accept death,” she said, during an interview on August 11.

Turning People Away

Aylieff said the situation was even worse in rural areas, where some 400 clinics providing nutrition had closed down due to lack of funds.

“The result of that is that we’re turning hundreds of thousands of people away,” he said.

“Sometimes they would have to walk for five hours to a clinic, the nearest one. Imagine the anguish of showing up and finding the clinic is closed.”

Aylieff added that the WFP was currently able to provide food to around 1 million people, compared to 5 million a year ago. But it will soon run out of money, he said, meaning food assistance will stop “almost completely” by October.

Taliban officials have largely avoided public comment on the hunger crisis, instead making vague remarks blaming foreign actors for the country’s general economic hardships.

For example, a statement by the Economy Ministry back in February said, “In addition to the financial and economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the freezing of assets has affected Afghanistan’s national economy.”

RFE/RL has been unable to operate freely in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power.

Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Taliban Fuel Ethnic Tensions With Forced Displacement, Says Ex-Afghan Commander

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Taliban militants (file photo)

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