Pakistan, China, Afghanistan agree to expand CPEC to Kabul amid regional unrest

Pakistan, China and Afghanistan agreed on Wednesday to deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan, officials said.

According to a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held an informal trilateral meeting in Beijing.

The three sides reaffirmed the trilateral platform as a key mechanism for promoting regional security and economic connectivity. They agreed to strengthen diplomatic engagement and take concrete steps to boost trade, infrastructure and development.

The ministers also expressed a shared commitment to counter terrorism and foster stability in the region.

China has long advocated for integrating Afghanistan into its Belt and Road Initiative, and Wednesday’s agreement marked a formal step in that direction.

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Extending CPEC into Afghanistan would involve greater infrastructure connectivity through energy pipelines, roads and trade corridors, although no specific projects or timelines were announced.

More takeaways from trilateral talks

In a detailed statement issued after the meeting, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that China fully supported both Pakistan and Afghanistan in safeguarding their territorial integrity, sovereignty and national dignity.

The statement noted that the three foreign ministers welcomed recent improvements in Afghanistan’s security situation and reiterated their shared vision of enhanced regional connectivity. They recognized that economic cooperation and infrastructure development are vital for long-term regional stability.

Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to deepening cooperation with Afghanistan in key areas such as trade, transit, public health, and connectivity.

The three sides also agreed on the importance of maintaining practical cooperation and regular diplomatic engagement through the trilateral mechanism.

They expressed a strong resolve to enhance security coordination to eliminate terrorism and external threats—conditions they considered critical for achieving economic and connectivity goals.

India-Pakistan tensions

The talks come amid shifting regional dynamics. Pakistan and India agreed to a ceasefire on May 10 after four days of intense fighting — the worst in nearly 30 years — sparked by an April 22 terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Islamabad denies.

Wang told Dar during their bilateral meeting earlier that China supports Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

He welcomed efforts by Pakistan and India to handle their differences through dialogue and achieve a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.

India engages with Taliban

Last week, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a telephone conversation with Muttaqi, marking the first minister-level outreach to the Taliban administration in Afghanistan by India.

“Good conversation with Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi this evening. Deeply appreciate his condemnation of the Pahalgam terrorist attack,” Jaishankar said in a message posted on X.

Muttaqi had also hosted senior Indian diplomat Anand Prakash in Kabul on April 27 amid growing India-Pakistan tensions following the attack.

Afghan-Pakistan ties show signs of improvement

Despite previous strains, Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently shown signs of diplomatic engagement.

Last month, Muttaqi met with Dar to express concern over Islamabad’s deportation of Afghan nationals. Pakistan has expelled more than 80,000 Afghans since March as part of a renewed repatriation drive that began in 2023.

China described the trilateral meeting as informal. A spokesperson said China would continue to play a constructive role in advancing cooperation among its neighbors.

The ministers agreed to hold the next Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting — the sixth in the series — in Kabul at a mutually convenient date.

Former envoy hails ‘positive development’

Masood Khan, former ambassador to China and the United States, told Nukta the trilateral meeting was a "very positive development in the midst of several regional crises."

“Pakistan and China worked hard even during the darkest periods of war in Afghanistan to explore a shared platform for regional trilateral cooperation that coopts Afghanistan. Now it is happening,” Khan said.

He noted that China brings "heft and clout" to the partnership and would provide “economic muscle under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to promote connectivity, which would loop in Central Asia to tap the full potential of trade and investment corridors running through Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Khan emphasized that the emerging alignment is not a military bloc like the Quad, but “a benign grouping aiming at economic cooperation and concomitant strategic understanding.” He added: “It would and should influence power dynamics in South Asia.”

Khan said the first outcome should be a “total denial to TTP to use Afghan soil to plan and execute terrorist attacks in Pakistan.” The second, he said, should be dismantling “all Indian networks that target Pakistan and China using Afghan space.”

“These are very complex realities,” he acknowledged, “but the real dividend would be ploughshares replacing guns and transforming the destiny of common people of Afghanistan and Pakistan by emulating the example of China.”

‘Blow to India’

Brigadier (retd) Haris Nawaz, a security affairs expert, told Nukta that the emerging alliance between Pakistan, China and Afghanistan is “crucial for the region—especially at a time when there is a standoff between Pakistan and India.”

He said Pakistan has long faced threats on both its eastern and western borders, but the western front has now stabilized “to a great extent.” He revealed that during the recent tensions with India, “around 71 TTP terrorists—who were infiltrating Pakistan via Afghanistan—were killed.”

Nawaz also pointed to the secret visit of Mullah Mohammad Ibrahim, the Taliban’s acting deputy minister of interior for security, to India amid the crisis.

“It clearly indicates that India has maintained close ties with Afghanistan, which was not in Pakistan’s interest,” he said. “However, with China's mediation, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are now improving.”

He called on Afghanistan to “clarify why such a secret visit to India occurred—especially at such a critical time.”

‘India’s regional influence is shrinking’

Nawaz asserted that the trilateral cooperation would reduce Indian influence in Afghanistan and lead to “a decline in terrorist incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.”

Commenting on regional power dynamics, he said India's vision of a “Greater India” is unraveling. “Not only are India’s ties with Pakistan strained, but now Afghanistan also appears to be distancing itself from Indian influence,” he said.

He added that India’s relations with other neighbors—including Bangladesh, Iran, Sri Lanka and Bhutan—are also deteriorating.

“In contrast, Pakistan has emerged from the recent Indo-Pak conflict as a powerful and mature nation on the global stage,” Nawaz said. “India, meanwhile, is facing increasing international isolation.”

He concluded that India’s ambition to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council now seems unrealistic. “It would require India to maintain good relations with its neighboring countries—something it has clearly failed to do,” he said.

With additional input from Reuters.