The first special freight train from China’s Shandong province has departed for Hairatan in northern Afghanistan, carrying goods worth about 8 million yuan and expected to arrive in around 20 days.
According to the Chinese outlet Xin Huanghe, the shipment includes textiles, chemical raw materials, tools and construction machinery produced in Linyi.
It is the first dedicated freight train to travel from Shandong to Hairatan.
After leaving China, the train will pass through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan before entering Afghanistan via the Termez border crossing.
It is expected to reach Hairatan port in Balkh province after about 20 days.
Previously, commercial goods from Shandong were mainly transported to Afghanistan by road or through a combination of road and rail routes.
Those methods were more expensive, and delivery times were less predictable.
Chinese officials say the new route could reduce transport costs and make trade between Shandong and Afghanistan easier.
Keith Kellogg, a former Trump national security adviser and US envoy for Ukraine, has urged Washington to engage Afghan political figures seeking to build a legitimate alternative to Taliban rule.
He also warned about China’s growing influence and Beijing’s efforts to gain access to Afghanistan’s mineral resources.
In an article published in The Washington Post on Thursday, 22 October, Kellogg wrote that the United States should not treat Afghanistan as a closed chapter following the withdrawal of its forces in 2021.
He said the Taliban had failed since returning to power to establish effective institutions, economic stability and the international relations needed for Afghanistan’s sustainable growth.
According to Kellogg, Afghanistan remains largely disconnected from the global financial system, while concerns over security, enforcement of contracts and political interference have discouraged investors from operating in the country.
Kellogg wrote that Washington should engage credible Afghan political figures who are working to create a legitimate alternative to Taliban rule. The United States should assess their leadership ability and their capacity to build public support.
He also called for continued diplomatic, economic and financial pressure on the Taliban.
Kellogg said such an approach would not mean redeploying US troops to Afghanistan, launching another state-building programme or imposing new costs on American taxpayers.
He wrote that the experience of two decades of US military involvement in Afghanistan showed that military power alone could not bring lasting change without a political system enjoying domestic legitimacy.
He stressed that Afghanistan’s political future should be shaped by Afghans themselves.
The former US official said Afghanistan has experienced business leaders, former government officials and a younger generation living both inside and outside the country who understand the importance of economic development, effective institutions and constructive relations with the international community.
According to Kellogg, investment by the United States and its allies over the past two decades helped develop this generation, and some of these figures are now working to create a political alternative to the Taliban.
He argued that the United States could assess these figures’ capabilities and level of public support and explore cooperation with them without becoming involved again in war or a large-scale state-building effort in Afghanistan.
Warning Over China’s Growing Influence in Afghanistan
Kellogg warned that as the US presence in Afghanistan has declined, China has been seeking greater access to the country’s mineral reserves while expanding its political and economic influence.
He wrote that Afghanistan holds significant deposits of copper, lithium, iron ore and other minerals needed for defence and technology industries.
According to Kellogg, Chinese companies are seeking mining concessions and broader commercial ties with the Taliban.
He said Beijing’s access to Afghan resources was significant for Washington’s strategic interests at a time when the United States is trying to reduce its dependence on China for critical minerals.
Kellogg noted that investment by Chinese companies did not necessarily amount to Chinese control over Afghanistan, but said economic dependence could give Beijing greater influence over the country’s political decisions.
In his view, China is building relationships and influence in a strategically important country, and that influence could continue even after the current Taliban leadership is no longer in power.
Kellogg warned that Washington’s lack of attention to developments in Afghanistan could create space for China to build long-term influence in a country important to regional and global powers because of both its geography and natural resources.
Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army general, was appointed chief of staff and executive secretary of the US National Security Council in 2017 and briefly served as acting national security adviser after Michael Flynn resigned.
In 2018, he became national security adviser to then Vice-President Mike Pence.
During Donald Trump’s second presidential term, Kellogg was also appointed in 2025 as the US president’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says militants enter the country from Afghanistan around the clock and target civilians and security forces, warning that the bloodshed must stop completely.
According to a video published on X by Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Sharif made the remarks on Thursday, 22 October, during the opening session of the federal National Action Plan committee in Peshawar.
The prime minister said the continuation of the current situation was no longer tolerable for Islamabad.
Sharif criticised insecurity along the border, saying attackers entering from Afghanistan were killing soldiers, police officers and innocent civilians.
Warning about the consequences of failing to act against armed groups, he said that if terrorists roam freely across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, take control of areas in the evenings and extort money while we simply watch, neither the people nor God will forgive us.
Security Situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
The Pakistani prime minister compared the crisis to the historical story of Rome burning while its rulers remained indifferent, saying the government could not allow Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to burn while the authorities stood by.
He said that at a time when Pakistan had managed to pull its economy out of crisis and was moving towards stability and development, the free movement of militants posed one of the greatest threats to the country’s national interests.
Sharif said continued insecurity originating from across the Afghan border had forced the Pakistani government to consider decisive, immediate and consequential military measures.
Sharif’s visit to Peshawar was his first to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the removal of the provincial government and the appointment of a new governor aligned with Islamabad on 12 October.
Islamabad, citing what it described as the provincial government’s failure to contain insecurity, removed the local administration affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and led by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.
Afridi and several of his colleagues were also detained, triggering widespread political protests in Peshawar and increasing tensions between the federal government and local political groups.
The security dispute between Islamabad and Kabul later escalated into what was described as an open war after Pakistan’s military accused the Taliban of providing safe havens to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The Taliban has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying Pakistan’s internal security failures should not be blamed on Afghan territory.
However, reports by the UN Security Council have confirmed the presence of Pakistani Taliban members and other militant groups in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reports that Pakistani military and intelligence officials have met leaders of armed anti-Taliban groups in recent months and discussed possible support.
The newspaper cited a Pakistani intelligence official, a former national security official briefed on the meetings, and a senior Afghan member of an armed anti-Taliban group as saying that Pakistani military and intelligence officials had held talks with those groups.
Ibraheem Bahiss, an Afghanistan analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan could become more complicated and unpredictable as both sides increasingly turn to proxy groups.
He said confrontation between proxy forces was growing and described it as a dangerous stage in the crisis.
The conflict between the Taliban and Pakistan escalated in late February 2026, when Pakistan declared an open war against the Taliban.
According to The New York Times, the fighting disrupted months of peace efforts and has killed or wounded at least 1,100 Afghan civilians.
Pakistan accuses armed groups based in Afghanistan of crossing the border and attacking Pakistani security forces.
The report said Pakistani security officials and experts link the increase in such attacks since 2021 to what they describe as a permissive environment provided to militants by the Afghan Taliban.
According to the report, thousands of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters cross the Durand Line to attack Pakistani security forces.
The Taliban has denied allegations that it supports militant attacks inside Pakistan.
The New York Times reported that China, Russia, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have attempted to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but those efforts have so far produced no clear result in ending the conflict.
China hosted talks between the two sides in April, but the negotiations ended without an agreement.
A meeting on Afghanistan’s security involving 10 regional countries in Moscow on 5 October also ended without a joint statement because of disagreements between the Afghan and Pakistani delegations.
Bahiss said both sides were so firmly committed to their positions that no outside actor, including China, appeared able to pressure them into changing course.
The Pakistani government says it will not hold talks with the Taliban unless the group commits to ending its support for armed organisations.
Aarish Khan, head of the Afghanistan programme at a state-funded research centre in Islamabad, said Pakistani military and political leaders currently view military action as the only remaining option.
However, he warned that such an approach could encourage the Taliban to provide even greater support to armed groups attacking Pakistan.
He said Pakistan’s current approach may reflect accumulated frustration rather than a long-term strategy, adding that such frustration would not be sustainable over time.
According to the report, civilians on both sides of the border are facing severe hardship as a result of the conflict.
A joint UNESCO-UNICEF report says Afghanistan’s education crisis extends beyond girls, with male university enrolment falling from about 306,000 in 2019 to 208,000 in 2026.
The report describes declining participation in higher education as one sign of a worsening education crisis in Afghanistan. It also points to the complete exclusion of women from universities, falling participation among boys in secondary schools and a sharp drop in university entrance exam applicants.
The report, titled “The Afghanistan Education Situation Report 2026” and published on 20 October, shows that the number of university entrance exams applicants fell from 210,000 in 2020 to about 84,000 in 2023.
Although the figure rose to around 118,000 in 2026, it remains well below the level recorded before the Taliban returned to power.
According to the report, the number of students admitted to universities also fell, from about 81,000 in 2020 to 74,500 in 2026.
However, the university admission rate increased from around 39 per cent in 2020 to 63 per cent in 2026, which the report says indicates that competition for university places has declined.
The report also highlights a fall in the number of male university students, from about 306,000 in 2019 to around 208,000 in 2026.
The decline comes as Afghan universities have faced financial difficulties and falling numbers of applicants following the exclusion of female students.
The report also says girls have been completely excluded from the university entrance exam process.
Around 80,000 girls took the university entrance exam in 2020, while more than 81,000 female candidates participated in 2021.
UNESCO and UNICEF also say more than 2.6 million Afghan girls have been denied secondary education since secondary and high schools were closed to girls in 2021.
The two UN agencies warned that the continued restrictions have not only eliminated girls’ pathways to university but also show that, contrary to common perceptions, the education crisis is not affecting girls alone.
The report says boys’ participation is also declining, with enrolment rates falling at both lower and upper secondary levels.
According to UNESCO and UNICEF, the trend shows that the pathway from school to university and then to the labour market is becoming increasingly restricted for a large share of Afghanistan’s young people.
The report also points to a weakening of university academic staff.
The number of university professors and lecturers fell from around 18,900 in 2019 to about 12,700 in 2025. The number of female academics dropped from around 2,600 to just over 100.
UNESCO and UNICEF concluded that Afghanistan’s education system is facing several overlapping crises, including the exclusion of millions of girls from education, the removal of women from universities, declining participation among boys, fewer Kankor applicants, falling student numbers and a shrinking academic workforce.
The agencies warned that without sustained investment and the removal of education restrictions, the capacity of Afghanistan’s education system will continue to weaken.
US Democrat Sam Liccardo says he will use a parliamentary procedure to force a House vote on a bill aimed at preventing the deportation of more than 8,000 Afghans who lost temporary protected status.
According to a statement from Liccardo’s office, the move is intended to bring the bill to a vote. If approved, it could restore Temporary Protected Status and prevent the affected Afghans from being deported.
The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee this summer and has remained there without a hearing or further progress.
Republican House leaders have so far not allowed the bill to leave committee and come to a vote.
Liccardo plans to file a discharge petition in an effort to bypass the Republican leadership.
Under normal procedures, House leaders, including the Speaker and committee chairs, decide which bills are brought to the floor for a vote.
If the leadership opposes a bill, it can keep it in committee and prevent the full House from voting on it.
Under US House rules, a discharge petition can force a bill to the floor without leadership approval if it secures at least 218 signatures.
More than 8,000 Afghans living in the United States had been allowed to remain legally under Temporary Protected Status, but the Trump administration ended that protection in 2025, leaving them at risk of deportation.
The bill to restore temporary protection for Afghans was introduced by Liccardo together with Democrats Jason Crow and Republicans Don Bacon and María Elvira Salazar.
Liccardo said in his statement: “Regardless of political differences, we ought to be able to agree on the critical importance of keeping our promises as a country”. He added: “America promised thousands of Afghans who risked their lives as interpreters, as informants, as other support roles to our military; they risked their lives with the expectation that we would not betray them and put them in harm’s way for doing so”.
Liccardo described the support of five Republican lawmakers as a positive sign and said he hoped more Republicans, particularly military veterans who served in Afghanistan, would back the bill after the midterm elections.