New Delhi, Oct 19 For Beijing, Afghanistan still has strong development potential and is worthy of investment despite its decades of political turmoil, a Chinese mouthpiece said.
The country is rich in mineral resources like copper, gold, lithium and rare earths, and it has other natural reserves like oil, natural gas, coal and iron ore.
If Afghanistan can rely on minerals mining to overcome its fiscal challenges and get the country's peaceful reconstruction back on track, it will be conducive to the regional stability and serve the interests of China and all its neighbouring countries, the Global Times said.
Whether Chinese enterprises invest in Afghanistan will largely depend on whether the Taliban can effectively ensure the safety of domestic production and construction, maintain social order, provide security and fight terrorism to win back investors' confidence, it said.
After the sensational talk about China filling the "vacuum" left by the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, some US media outlets have begun whining about the potential economic cooperation between Kabul and Beijing. But China's Afghan policy will only be carried out in accordance with its overall foreign policies and national interests with no regard for US badmouthing and criticism, it added.
Yet, it is not the Taliban's "wishful thinking" at all when it comes to Chinese investment in Afghanistan's infrastructure and resources mining, because the two sides share a genuine willingness to cooperate to improve the well-being of Afghan people, even though there are still some areas which require further discussion, the Global Times said.
The reconstruction of Afghanistan will be a long process, focusing on the rebuilding of its economic and financial system, infrastructure and social order.
The Taliban has expressed high hopes for Chinese investment to help improve infrastructure, and provide urgently needed jobs for the local people.
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