Taliban says plans to formally join China's Belt and Road Initiative

This is the best summary I could come up with:

BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping's huge 'Belt and Road' infrastructure initiative and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan's acting commerce minister said on Thursday.

The Pakistan "economic corridor" refers to the huge flagship section of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Afghanistan's neighbour.

Azizi said the administration would also send a technical team to China to enable it to "better understand" the issues standing in the way of it joining the initiative, but did not elaborate on what was holding Afghanistan back.

Several Chinese companies already operate there, including the Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd (MCC) which has held talks with the Taliban administration, as well as the previous Western-backed government, over plans for a potentially huge copper mine.

The Islamic State militant group has targeted foreign embassies and a hotel popular with Chinese investors in Kabul.

Afghanistan and 34 other countries agreed to work together on the digital economy and green development on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum on Wednesday.

The original article contains 453 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

4 comments

It's probably Afghanistan's best shot of recovering economically given the absolute devastation that the Soviets and Americans inflicted on the country. Infrastructure works.
See the funny thing is the Taliban would probably gain benefit from it since as they mentioned they already have Chinese companies working in the region.
The Global North is losing its neocolonial grip all over the place, and deservedly so.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The Taliban administration wants to formally join Chinese President Xi Jinping's huge 'Belt and Road' infrastructure initiative and will send a technical team to China for talks, Afghanistan's acting commerce minister said on Thursday.
The Pakistan "economic corridor" refers to the huge flagship section of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Afghanistan's neighbour.
Azizi said the administration would also send a technical team to China to enable it to "better understand" the issues standing in the way of it joining the initiative, but did not elaborate on what was holding Afghanistan back.
Several Chinese companies already operate there, including the Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd (MCC) which has held talks with the Taliban administration, as well as the previous Western-backed government, over plans for a potentially huge copper mine.
The Islamic State militant group has targeted foreign embassies and a hotel popular with Chinese investors in Kabul.
Afghanistan and 34 other countries agreed to work together on the digital economy and green development on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum on Wednesday.
The original article contains 453 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!