The Taliban says it is planning to formally join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and will send a team to China to discuss the matter.
"We requested China to allow us to be a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Belt and Road Initiative ... (and) are discussing technical issues today," Commerce Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi had told Reuters on 19 October.
The Taliban was in attendance for the BRI’s 10th anniversary forum. Experts claim the appearance of the group was a symbolic gesture of China’s growing diplomatic engagements with the acting Afghan government.
Azizi said that the Taliban would send a technical group to China to help the Far East nation understand what issues may stand in the way of Afghanistan joining. Azizi didn’t elaborate to Reuters what the roadblocks were.