Foreign ministers from all three countries pledge to continue trilateral cooperation efforts as political ties deepen.
China, Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged to further strengthen trilateral security and counter-terrorism cooperation at a meeting of the three countries’ foreign ministers in Islamabad.
Ministers agreed on Sunday to maintain good relations, deepen political mutual trust, respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and properly address differences and disputes through equal consultation.
Afghanistan seeks Chinese investment
Since the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021, Afghanistan has faced an economic and humanitarian crisis as the Taliban took over and the country fell into international isolation.
The Taliban government has since hoped to attract Chinese investment in its reserves of minerals such as copper and lithium.
Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Amir Khan Muttaqi, who has been banned from travel by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) but was granted an exemption to visit Islamabad, met with his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang. Later on Sunday, he will have a bilateral meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
China has invested billions in Pakistan through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an under-construction network of roads, railways and ports.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems interested in investing in Afghanistan. Just a month ago, it said it “welcomes Afghanistan’s participation in Belt and Road cooperation and supports Afghanistan’s integration in regional economic cooperation and connectivity.”
Qin said China is ready to join forces with Afghanistan and Pakistan to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, the Xinhua news agency said.
China and Pakistan seek security guarantees
The three sides also pledged to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation, with China and Pakistan expressing support for the Taliban-led Afghan government to strengthen capacity building to deal with “terrorist” actors.
The Taliban in Afghanistan and the Pakistani Taliban, known by the abbreviation TTP, are separate groups but share an ideology. Last week, at least six Pakistani soldiers were killed in a firefight with TTP fighters in the northwest of the country near the Afghan border.
These types of attacks have become more common since last year, after the TTP revoked a Taliban-brokered ceasefire and peace talks with the government in Islamabad failed.
China also wants to see a more stable security landscape in Afghanistan before launching investment projects in the country.
Afghanistan stressed that it would not allow any armed group to use its territory for activities against China and Pakistan.
Qin called for coordination and cooperation mechanisms among Afghanistan’s neighbors within the regional multilateral framework.
For their part, Zardari and Muttaqi said that China-Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation is of great importance for regional peace and prosperity.
They said that Afghanistan and Pakistan are willing to actively promote trilateral cooperation, establish a roadmap for cooperation in areas such as politics, security and economics, protect the common interests of the three countries, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and benefits to the people of the three neighboring countries and other countries in the region.
Pakistan and China oppose sanctions against Afghanistan
China and Pakistan made it clear at the meeting that they oppose interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, illegal unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan and all acts that undermine regional peace and stability.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that China and Pakistan “underlined the need for the international community to continue to provide aid and support to Afghanistan, including by unblocking the freeze on Afghanistan’s foreign financial assets.”
Nearly $10 billion in Afghan assets have been frozen by the US after the Taliban took over the country in a military blitzkrieg in 2021 as President Ashraf Ghani’s Western-backed government collapsed.
The statement also said they had agreed to continue their humanitarian and economic assistance to the Afghan people and to strengthen development cooperation in Afghanistan, including by expanding the CPEC to Afghanistan.