Wang Yu, the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan, has announced the end of his tenure in the country.
In a tweet on Friday, Wang Yu stated that he left Afghanistan with “full of memories” and wished the country peace, stability, and prosperity.
The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also confirmed Wang Yu’s departure in a tweet, saying that he had paid a farewell call to the group’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.
According to Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Muttaqi appreciated Wang Yu’s diplomatic tenure in Kabul, particularly for keeping the Chinese embassy active during the political developments in Afghanistan.
Wang Yu was appointed as the Chinese ambassador to Afghanistan in 2019. In the last two years, he has had several extensive meetings with various Taliban officials in the country.
China has kept a growing diplomatic and economic relationship with the Taliban since the group’s takeover of Afghanistan, with Chinese companies expressing interest in investing in the country.
In mid-April, a Chinese company offered $10 billion to the Taliban for access to Afghanistan’s large lithium deposits, which according to some estimates is worth $1 trillion. And in January, the group and another Chinese company signed a $540 million deal to extract oil from northern Afghanistan’s Amu Darya basin.
