Muhammad Murad
In a recent post on X, Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president of Afghanistan, accused Chinese mining companies, “in collaboration with Taliban commanders,” of “rampant plundering and theft” at gold mines in the northeastern regions of the country. He emphasized, “This exploitation occurs at the detriment of local communities, resulting in their alienation and mounting resentment.”
Since the rise of the Taliban in the early 1990s, relations between the group and China have gone through several dramatic phases. China neither had a role in the creation of the Taliban regime, unlike its regional ally Pakistan, nor did it recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan. During the Taliban’s first stint in power, from 1996-2001, China mostly stayed out of Afghanistan. However, it is alleged that the Chinese company Huawei Technologies was involved in providing the Taliban regime with a telephone system in Kabul during the late 1990s. Zhongxing Telecom (ZTE) was also alleged to have stakes in the same project.
Fast forward to the Taliban takeover of Kabul during the summer of 2021. Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan Zhao Haihan praised the transition, saying, “Afghanistan ushered in a new era of independent development an the transition from chaos to order. The Afghan people have truly become the masters of their own homeland.”
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