China, Pakistan resolve to extend CPEC into Afghanistan

In yet another effort to build trust with the Taliban government, China and Pakistan agreed to include Afghanistan as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Sources here pointed out that China had issued a joint statement with the earlier regime of Hamid Karzai and this latest reiteration comes soon after the Taliban government inked a MoU with a Chinese firm to prospect for oil in the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan. It is estimated that Afghanistan has mineral resources estimated at $1 trillion. Seven Indian companies headed by SAIL had been allocated a huge iron ore mine in Bamyan district by the previous regime but the project now appears to have been mothballed.