Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, on Saturday in Kabul met with Wang Zhicheng, the Director General of the contracting company for the Mes Aynak copper mine in Logar province.

During the meeting, Baradar described Mes Aynak as one of Afghanistan’s key economic projects and emphasized that the Islamic Emirate has provided all necessary facilities to support the contracting company in advancing the project, according to a statement from his office.

Baradar urged the company to begin the construction phase of the project as soon as possible and to address any issues causing delays.

Wang Zhicheng, Director General of MCC, praised the cooperation of the Islamic Emirate in furthering the project.

He mentioned that significant progress has been made in several aspects of the Mes Aynak project and expressed readiness to proceed with the next steps in coordination with the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum. 

The Aynak copper mine contains millions of tons of copper and is believed to have the second-largest copper reserve in the world.

The contract for the Aynak copper mine was signed in 1999 with the Chinese company MCC for 30 years, but due to security issues and prolonged excavations of ancient relics in the area, the extraction of copper was delayed.

The special representatives of Pakistan and China for Afghanistan, along with Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, agreed in a trilateral meeting held on Saturday that the sixth round of foreign ministers’ talks among the three countries will be held in Kabul.

Zia Ahmad Takal, Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement that Muttaqi, Yue Xiaoyong, and Mohammad Sadiq also agreed to begin preparations for the upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of Kabul, Islamabad, and Beijing.

Today’s trilateral meeting addressed follow-up issues related to the fifth round of foreign ministers’ dialogue among Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan, as well as discussions on political and economic cooperation among the three countries.

During this meeting, Muttaqi emphasized the importance of political and economic relations between Afghanistan and the two countries and expressed hope for “significant progress” in these areas in the future.

The special envoys from China and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening relations with Afghanistan based on good neighborliness and mutual respect.

Pakistan’s envoy Sadiq also said in a post on X page that today’s trilateral meeting provided an opportunity to align views on economic and security cooperation, as well as regional stability.

The Pakistani military has claimed that India launched missile and drone attack on Afghanistan.

Pakistan Army spokesman Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry made the claim at a news conference, calling Afghanistan a “brotherly” country.

India, however, has rejected the claim as “ludicrous.”

“I only want to point out that the Afghan people don’t need to be reminded about which country it is that has, on multiple occasions in just the last one and a half years, targeted civilian populations and civilian infrastructure in Afghanistan” said Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.