Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on first visit to Afghanistan

Beijing hosts next week a meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors to see how they can help the country. Above, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation gathering in Islamabad, Pakistan on Mar. 22, 2022. (AP)
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  • China shares a rugged 76-kilometer sliver of a border with Afghanistan

KABUL: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Kabul on Thursday, a week before Beijing hosts a meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors to see how they can help the country following its takeover by the hard-line Islamist group.

“Chinese Foreign Minister arrives in Kabul for talks with Islamic Emirate leaders,” tweeted Ahmad Yasir, a top Taliban government official.

Yi arrived in Kabul from Islamabad where he attended a two-day meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

China shares a rugged 76-kilometer sliver of a border with Afghanistan, but Beijing has long feared its neighbor could become a staging point for minority Muslim Uyghur separatists from Xinjiang.

Even before the August 15 takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, Beijing sought to maintain ties with the group as US-led forces withdrew.