Taliban says China sent envoy to Kabul in first ambassadorial appointment since takeover

According to Afghan officials, a new Chinese ambassador introduced himself to the Taliban's prime minister in Kabul on Wednesday. This was the first appointment of a foreign envoy at the ambassadorial level since the Taliban seized control in 2021, they added.

No foreign government has formally acknowledged the Taliban. If Wednesday's nomination represented any moves by Beijing towards the Taliban's formal recognition, it was not immediately obvious.

Requests for comment from the Chinese foreign ministry were not promptly fulfilled.

"Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, accepted the credentials of Mr Zhao Xing, the new Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, during a ceremony," said the Taliban administration's deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, in a statement.

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Zhao Xing was the first ambassador chosen after the Taliban assumed control once Western forces retreated in August 2021, according to a spokesman for the Taliban foreign ministry.

Wang Yu, the last Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, started in the position in 2019 and left it last month.

Senior diplomats from other countries and international delegations, including Pakistan and the European Union, have been assigned to oversee diplomatic missions in Kabul. These diplomats hold the title of "chargee d'affaires," which typically denotes that they are in charge of ambassadorial duties but do not formally hold the position of ambassador.

Some of the ambassadors appointed when the former Afghan administration was supported by foreign nations have continued to hold their positions in Kabul.

On August 15, 2021, the U.S.-backed President Ashraf Ghani fled as the Afghan security forces, which had been established with years of Western support, crumbled.

(With agency inputs)