Pakistan, China and Afghanistan hold high-level meeting in Kabul to boost cooperation

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Top diplomats from Pakistan,China and Afghanistan committed their countries to stronger anti-terrorism cooperation during a meeting Wednesday in Kabul aimed at boosting political and economic partnership, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

The three sides also “reaffirmed their commitment to deepening collaboration in trade, transit, regional development, health, education, culture, and combating drug trafficking," according to a statement from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

The parties also reaffirmed an earlier agreement to extend the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, the statement added.

It provided no further details on the meeting among Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and top Taliban officials, hosted by the Taliban government in Kabul.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor involves improving road and rail links between China's western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea. Pakistan’s authorities in recent weeks have said they hope the corridor will help attract more Chinese investment to revive its ailing economy, and that they are hopeful that extending it to Afghanistan will boost trade with Central Asia.

The meeting came more than a month after Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan. While no country apart from Russian has offered formal recognition, the Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier had said that the meeting would include “comprehensive discussions” on a wide range of issues, including political, economic and regional cooperation.

The last round of the dialogue took place in May in Beijing.