REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsKABUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The Taliban will attend China's Belt and Road Forum next week, a spokesman said on Saturday, underscoring Beijing's growing official ties with the administration, despite its lack of formal recognition by any government.
Taliban officials and ministers have at times travelled to regional meetings, mostly those focussed on Afghanistan, but the Belt and Road Forum is among the highest-profile multilateral summits it has been invited to attend.
China has been in talks with the Taliban over plans, begun under the previous foreign-backed government, over a possible huge copper mine in eastern Afghanistan.
Officials from China, the Taliban and neighbouring Pakistan said in May they would like Belt and Road to include Afghanistan and for the flagship China Pakistan Economic Corridor to be extended across the border to Afghanistan.
China has boosted engagement with the Taliban, becoming the first country to appoint an ambassador to Kabul since the Taliban took power, and invested in mining projects.
Persons:
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Wang Yu, Ali Khara, Xi, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad, Azizi, Akhundzada, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Charlotte, Joe Cash, William Mallard
Organizations:
Afghan, REUTERS, Rights, China Pakistan Economic, Taliban, Thomson
Locations:
China, Islamic Emirate, Afghanistan, Kabul, Rights KABUL, Beijing, Pakistan, China Pakistan, Charlotte Greenfield, Islamabad