Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is set to visit Pakistan this week for strategic talks and a trilateral meeting involving Afghanistan to discuss the regional situation. The meeting is expected to be held in Islamabad, attended by interim Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, who was granted permission by a UN Security Council Committee to travel from Afghanistan to Pakistan to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China. The visit is significant as China and Pakistan have previously expressed interest in including Taliban-led Afghanistan in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor infrastructure project, part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, while Afghanistan is an important trade and transit route between South and Central Asia with untapped mineral resources.