Taliban signs first international deal with China for major foreign investment in Afghanistan

Chinese petroleum company CAPEIC to invest $150m (£124m) a year

The Taliban-led administration has signed its first international deal with a Chinese company to extract oil from northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin, marking the government’s first major foreign investment deal.

Shahabuddin Dilawar, the acting mining minister under the Taliban regime, said on Thursday that the contract was signed with the Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC).

Chinese ambassador Wang Yu also confirmed the signing of the 25-year contract between Beijing and the hardline government.