ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Interim Government agreed with Pakistan and China to extend the Belt and Road Initiative to Afghanistan, possibly drawing in billions of dollars to support infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
The outlet reported that China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met in Islamabad on Saturday and vowed to work together on Afghanistan’s reconstruction including taking China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.
China-Pakistan-Afghanistan
According to a joint statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign office, “The two countries agreed to continue their economic and humanitarian assistance for the Afghans and enhance development cooperation in the country, including through extension of China Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan,”.
Pakistani and Chinese officials have previously held discussions extending the CPEC project to Afghanistan under Chinese President’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that started almost ten years ago. The Afghan Interim government has also expressed readiness to participate in the CPEC project.
Afghan Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visited Islamabad to meet Chinese and Pakistani Foreign Ministers. The Pakistani and Chinese Ministers also stressed on the need to unfreeze overseas financial assets of Afghanistan, the western media reported. Afghan Taliban has been blocked from accessing almost $9 billion of Afghanistan’s central bank reserves.
The US later agreed to release half of the funds to support the economy of Afghanistan but put it on hold after Afghan Taliban imposed certain school and work restrictions on Afghan girls and women last year.
According to a UN agency, Afghanistan requires $4.6 billion in the current year to help more than two-thirds of Afghanistan’s 40 million people who are living in poverty.
Muttaqi’s second trip to Pakistan comes days after the UN stressed the need to engage with Afghan Taliban rulers as Afghanistan is confronting the “largest” humanitarian crisis in the world.
