In December of last year, Bloomberg reported that China’s Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. had tripled its crude oil production in Afghanistan. According to the Taliban, the drilling of new wells will generate approximately USD 500 million in annual revenue for the group's government.
This news is specially important because of the fact that Taliban is ruling the country, after 20 years of war with US and its NATO allies, ended 3 year ago with US pulling out of Afghanistan in 2021.
Another importance of this news is that no country in the world has yet recognized the new Taliban government.
US seized Afghanistan's foreign reserves after Taliban took over the Afghan government, toppling the US and worldwide recognized government which was headed by then President Ashraf Ghani.
Taliban suffered immense global pressure with economic sanctions imposed by US in its three years of rule so far, with almost entire isolation.
Good news for Taliban:
Some good news came for Taliban this year when, Russia, China put forward helping hand and first official diplomatic visits were made by Taliban delegation to these countries.
Pakistan and Taliban also have made multiple diplomatic visits to each other's country, as the two share border.
Other key players like Iran, Turkey, India, Indonesia among many others have also met with the Taliban led government officials in these 3 years, several times now.
US and Taliban relations:
Most important of all, the Taliban representatives have also met the U.S. Delegation in Doha, Qatar in 2022. While Qatar and Taliban representatives have conducted meetings several times now.