A reported suicide bombing that took place in Afghanistan in January – at a Chinese noodle restaurant in the heart of Kabul, leaving seven dead and injuring dozens – shows just how much the country has transformed in the years since the Taliban took over.
The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), a branch of the Islamic State terrorist group, took responsibility for the attack, claiming to target the restaurant because it was frequented by Chinese nationals, and as revenge for China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. (Tragically, the restaurant was owned and operated by a Chinese Uyghur Muslim, Abdul Majid, who was among those killed.)
China’s influence in Afghanistan has certainly been on the rise. Several Chinese businesses had cropped up on that same Kabul street in recent years, and while no official figures have been shared publicly, analysts estimate that about 5,000 Chinese nationals live and work in Afghanistan, many of them in Kabul – a sure sign of the success of China’s investment diplomacy.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, most western governments withdrew critical humanitarian and development aid. Isolated by the West, the government has been seeking to build stronger ties with regional powers such as India, Russia and China. And while Delhi and Moscow have engaged diplomatically with the insurgent group that previously targeted their people, China has gone even further, reportedly pouring billions into various mining and infrastructure projects in the country, including a (since-cancelled) US$540-million oil-and-gas extraction agreement and a potential lithium extraction project that could be worth as much as US$10-billion. Trade between the two countries has also spiked, doubling from US$595-million to US$1.33-billion between 2022 and 2023, and Beijing has called for an end to the sanctions against Afghanistan. These were much-needed diplomatic wins for a country that has been shunned globally for its fundamentalist rule and continued mistreatment of women and minorities.
However, the Chinese gamble in Afghanistan has come with a heavy cost. The bombing at the Kabul restaurant is only the latest in an increasing number of attacks on Chinese citizens and interests in the region, and a sign of growing resentments. In 2022, a similar attack, this one on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul, was claimed by the ISKP; in November, 2025, two attacks targeted and killed five Chinese workers near the Afghan-Tajikistan border. And in the first week of January, clashes turned deadly at Chinese gold mines in northern Afghanistan, as locals protested China’s expanding control of the land resources in their province.
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