Trump’s envoy in Kabul visits Beijing as China’s influence grows

The US peace envoy to Afghanistan held a previously scheduled meeting in Beijing, an American embassy spokesman said on Thursday, amid signs of new momentum in efforts to end Afghanistan’s 18-year war and a push by China to boost its influence in the region.

The spokesman gave no details about the visit by Zalmay Khalilzad but it comes just days after he said that for the first time he could report “substantive” progress a peace deal.

Mr Khalilzad said the latest round of talks with the Taliban were the “most productive” yet, and included a timeline for both intra-Afghan negotiations and a ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month that Washington is hopeful a deal to end the war can be reached before September 1.

Reports in Afghanistan claimed a Taliban delegation and former president Hamid Karzai had also recently visited Beijing.

Along with Pakistan, Iran and Russia, China is gaining growing influence in Afghanistan, even as the US spends billions of dollars to support the Afghan security forces.

China hosted previous talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government and has substantial interests in the country’s mineral wealth, as well as in reducing the chances of the nation’s violence and chronic instability flowing across the two countries’ border.

Beijing has secured rights to Afghanistan’s Mes Aynak copper deposit, believed to contain about 450 million tonnes of the metal worth tens of billions of dollars. However, poor security and economic chaos in the country have prevented development of the mine, which also sits on an ancient Buddhist pilgrimage site

Afghanistan’s former ambassador to China, Janan Mosazai, said last year that Beijing is helping Kabul set up a mountain brigade to bolster counter-terrorism operations, but that no Chinese troops would be stationed in the country.

Along with that military assistance, China has also provided equipment and training to Afghanistan’s government.

Despite the denials of Chinese military activity in the area, unconfirmed reports have shown what appear to be Chinese vehicles operating in the Wakhan corridor, which lies in the shadow of the Hindu Kush mountains with Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south.