ECO Meet In Pakistan Proceeds Without Taliban Representation

Speaking on Tuesday, Sharif said the fight against terrorism is a collective national decision and vowed that his government would continue its campaign until terrorism is completely eradicated. He said militant groups continue to operate from Afghanistan despite repeated assurances from the Taliban authorities.

Trade Suspended Over Security Concerns

The prime minister said Islamabad had been forced to suspend all trade with Afghanistan because of what he described as Kabul’s inaction against terrorist groups. He said the closure of the Pakistan–Afghanistan border to trade was an unwanted but unavoidable step.

Trade across the border has been suspended since mid-October 2025 following clashes along the frontier. Several rounds of talks on counterterrorism mechanisms, including mediation efforts by Türkiye and Qatar, have failed to yield concrete results.

Sharif said the 2020 Doha agreement clearly stipulates that Afghan territory must not be used to threaten other countries. He added that despite numerous meetings between officials from both sides, Pakistan’s proposals to curb militancy have not been implemented.

He also said Islamabad had expected the Taliban administration to take decisive action against militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, but said no such commitment has been demonstrated in practice.

Traders on both sides of the border, particularly in Pakistan, have repeatedly protested the prolonged closure and the suspension of cross-border trade, warning of mounting economic losses.

In a statement issued on Monday, China’s embassy in Kabul said Chinese nationals already in Afghanistan should strengthen security measures and avoid crowded places such as hotels, religious sites and large markets. The embassy also urged citizens to closely monitor local security conditions and enhance safety precautions at their residences and while travelling.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Beijing had lodged its concerns with the Taliban and urged them to take more effective steps to protect Chinese citizens, projects and institutions in Afghanistan. He also called on the Taliban to swiftly clarify the circumstances of the attack and punish those responsible.

The warning followed an explosion in Kabul’s Shahr-e Naw area on Monday that killed at least seven people and wounded 13 others, according to Taliban officials. At least one of the dead was a Chinese national. The attack was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province.

According to Taliban officials, a suicide bomber entered a Chinese restaurant in Shahr-e Naw and detonated explosives among Chinese citizens and their guards. ISIS’s Amaq News Agency claimed that 25 people, including Chinese nationals, Taliban members and Afghan civilians, were killed, a figure that could not be independently verified.

In its statement, ISIS-K said Chinese citizens were targeted over what it described as China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. Taliban authorities said the Chinese national killed in the attack was a Muslim from China’s Xinjiang region, identified as Abdul Rahman.

Afghanistan International earlier reported, citing eyewitnesses and video footage, that a suicide bomber targeted Chinese nationals at the China Lanzhou Beef Noodle restaurant in Shahr-e Naw.

Chinese Presence in Afghanistan

Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, China has expanded cooperation with the group, particularly in the extraction of Afghanistan’s mineral resources. Chinese companies have signed major contracts in the copper, oil, gold and coal sectors, and dozens of Chinese firms and hundreds of businesspeople have entered the country.

No official figures have been released on the number of Chinese workers and investors currently in Afghanistan. Last year, Pakistan’s Center for Research and Security Studies reported that about 100 Chinese companies had registered with the Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, and nearly 500 Chinese businesspeople had entered Afghanistan to explore investment opportunities, mainly in mining.

Mining activities have drawn criticism from Afghans over a lack of transparency, environmental damage and failure to meet international standards.

Attacks on Chinese Nationals

Over the past four and a half years, several attacks have targeted Chinese citizens in Afghanistan and nearby border regions, most of them claimed by ISIS-K and often linked to China’s policies toward Uyghur Muslims.

January 2026: Suicide attack on a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul killed at least one Chinese national.

January 2026: China urged citizens to leave Afghanistan–Tajikistan border areas after clashes near the border.

December 2025: Five Chinese nationals killed and five wounded in two attacks near the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border.

January 2025: A Chinese national identified as Li was killed in Takhar province.

November 2024: One Chinese national killed and four wounded in an attack on Chinese workers at a gold mine near the Tajikistan border.

December 2022: Gunmen attacked a hotel in Kabul’s Shahr-e Naw district, killing at least three people and wounding 18 others, including five Chinese nationals. ISIS-K claimed responsibility.

China has repeatedly urged the Taliban to improve security for foreign nationals, particularly Chinese citizens working on economic and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the court said 16 people in Nangarhar were punished on charges described as “illicit relations, running away from home, and the buying, selling and use of narcotics.” Those individuals received between 10 and 39 lashes.

The statement added that three people in Balkh were also publicly flogged, each receiving 39 lashes.

The Taliban Supreme Court said the corporal punishments were carried out under rulings issued by local courts in both provinces.

Mohammad Wali Haqqani, head of the primary urban court in Balkh, described the floggings as the “implementation and enforcement of Islamic Sharia,” saying the punishments were intended to “eliminate corruption and social disorder.”

The Taliban Supreme Court has previously said that in 2025 the group executed at least six people and flogged 1,118 others.

Public corporal punishment has become a routine practice under Taliban rule. International human rights organisations have repeatedly condemned such punishments as violations of human dignity and called for them to stop. The Taliban, however, continue to defend the measures as part of their interpretation of Islamic law.

Pakistani media reported that Mohammad Sadiq Khan, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, and Richard Lindsay, Britain’s special representative, exchanged views on recent regional developments and security challenges.

According to the reports, discussions centered on the rise in cross-border insecurity and its implications for regional stability. Islamabad has repeatedly said that militant attacks inside Pakistan are planned in Afghanistan and carried out on Pakistani territory, an issue that has become a major source of tension between Pakistan and the Taliban in recent months.

The talks came as local sources reported clashes on Monday afternoon between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops in Maruf district of Kandahar province. The sources said the cause of the clash was unclear and that the fighting ended after about half an hour.

The raid took place on Sunday, January 18, and targeted about 80 Afghans who had been deported from Pakistan roughly two months earlier despite holding acceptance commitments from Germany, the sources said.

According to the sources, Taliban agents questioned the residents for several hours and confiscated their electronic devices, including smartphones.

After the Pakistani government deported a number of Afghan migrants covered by Germany’s relocation programme, they were accommodated at a guesthouse in central Kabul. The costs of their stay were being covered by the German government, the sources said.

The group is among dozens of Afghans who, after the fall of Kabul, had been staying at a guesthouse operated by Germany’s development agency, GIZ, in Pakistan and were awaiting transfer to Germany.

Germany’s public broadcaster, ARD, reported that Taliban security forces interrogated some of the Afghans for hours, confined them to their rooms, seized their mobile phones and filmed the interrogations. The report said they were questioned about their reasons for seeking relocation to Germany.

Sources told Afghanistan International that during the interrogations, Taliban officers asked when the Afghans had returned from Pakistan, how long they had stayed there, why they intended to go to Germany and which institution was funding their accommodation. They were also questioned about their previous employment.

The sources added that Taliban forces detained three employees of the guesthouse during the raid. One of them was released on bail on Monday.

As of late Monday night, Kabul time, none of the Afghan asylum seekers had been allowed to leave the guesthouse, the sources said.

Dozens of Afghan nationals who have been accepted for relocation to Germany remain in limbo after months of waiting in Pakistan amid the risk of arrest and deportation. Some have already been deported to Afghanistan by Pakistani police.