China has reactivated its direct air trade ties with Afghanistan to help the new ruler of the war-torn neighboring Taliban cope with the deepening economic and humanitarian crisis. On Sunday, a cargo plane carrying 45 tons of pine nuts flew from Kabul to the Chinese market, marking the restoration of the commercial corridor after the Islamic Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August. Taliban government spokesperson Bilal Karimi told VOA: "We hope that business activities can continue and promote our trade relations with China." He said that the export of pine nuts is widely "good" between Kabul and Beijing recently. As a result of the discussion, it is expected that progress will be made in other areas of bilateral trade in the next few days. "Today's export of pine nuts especially marks a new good beginning for (the relations between the two countries)," Karimi added.

"Revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars [are] benefiting many Afghan farmers a lot," Wang Yu, the Chinese ambassador to Kabul, tweeted after sending away the cargo plane.

The ambassador wrote: "Small pine nuts bring happiness to the Afghan people and good taste to the Chinese people. The pine nuts air corridor is an important link of the friendship between our two countries."

China is one of the largest importers of Afghan pine nuts. It opened an air transport corridor in November 2018 to help Afghanistan increase its exports of dried and fresh fruits to the Chinese market and resolve its huge trade deficit. Officials at the time estimated that the trade link would enable Afghan exporters to export 23,000 tons of pine nuts to China each year, bringing in revenues of up to 800 million U.S. dollars. The initiative has promoted the development of the Afghan pine nut industry. According to reports, Chinese importers signed a contract last year to purchase more than US$2 billion in pine nuts over the next five years. Beijing has long viewed bilateral economic cooperation as a way to stabilize Afghanistan and prevent anti-China militants from using the country as a launch pad for terrorist attacks, especially in the western border areas of Xinjiang. Since the United States and NATO allies left Afghanistan in August after nearly 20 years of war, China has been actively coordinating with neighboring and regional powers to help the Taliban stabilize the country. Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a two-day meeting with senior Taliban leaders in Doha, the capital of Qatar. A statement after the Chinese meeting quoted Wang as saying that he told Taliban interlocutors that Beijing has been worried that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan "may break out." After the meeting in Doha, Wang Yi said that once the security situation in Afghanistan stabilizes, China will discuss cooperation with Afghanistan in the field of economic reconstruction, and support Afghanistan in enhancing connectivity and independent development capabilities in the same region. . China has announced that it will provide more than 30 million U.S. dollars in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. After the talks last week, Wang announced an additional $6 million in cash and material assistance. Neither Washington nor the entire international community granted legitimacy to the Taliban government. Although Afghanistan faces the prospect of a humanitarian crisis and economic collapse, the United States has prevented it from acquiring approximately US$10 billion in Afghan assets mainly deposited in the US Federal Reserve. The sanctions stem from concerns about human rights and terrorism under the Taliban. China, along with Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Russia, has been urging Western countries to unfreeze Kabul’s assets abroad and provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Afghans. Although Washington and European countries have so far ignored the call to recognize the Taliban government, they have announced emergency humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

The United Nations said that unless emergency assistance arrives, more than half of the country's nearly 40 million people will face severe hunger this winter.