China: The ruling Taliban has agreed to associate with a Chinese company to collect oil from the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan as part of their efforts to support the South Asian nation’s increasingly impoverished and isolated economy.

The Taliban have not entered into any significant international energy extraction contracts since taking control in Afghanistan in 2021 until their agreement with China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co.

According to a statement, the deal was signed in Kabul in the presence of Mr. Wang Yu, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, and Mr. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs of the Taliban.

Mr. Baradar referred to the deal as being in Afghanistan’s best interests, adding that it would strengthen the country’s economy, as per the statement.

“In terms of natural resources, Afghanistan is a wealthy nation. In addition to other minerals, oil is the wealth of the Afghan people on which the economy of the country can rely,” Mr. Baradar observed.

The Chinese firm is required to invest up to $150 million annually in conjunction with the deal, which will rise to $540 million in three years. “The project directly provides job opportunities for 3,000 Afghans,” the statement said.

One of the main issues for Western countries has been the new government’s marginalization of minorities and women. In December 2022, the UN suspended some of its “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s ban on female NGO workers.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban last month also put a halt to all female students attending universities, which was widely denounced.

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