The January 19 suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Kabul that killed seven people is the latest in an a series of attacks on Chinese citizens and interests in Afghanistan, a country that has become a key strategic partner for Beijing.
The deadly attack targeted a restaurant called China Lanzhou Beef Noodles, which served Chinese food to a mostly Chinese clientele. The restaurant is located in the commercial Shahr-e-Naw area that is home to offices, shopping complexes, and embassies and is considered one of the most secure parts of the Afghan capital.
The Taliban police spokesperson in Kabul, Khalid Zadran, said the restaurant was jointly run by Chinese national Abdulmajid, his wife, and an Afghan business partner, Abdul Jabbar Mahmood. Abdulmajid, who was Uyghur, and six Afghans were killed in the blast, while 20 others, including five Chinese nationals, were seriously injured.
The Afghan branch of the Islamic State (Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, saying it was in response to “growing crimes” by the Chinese government against its Uyghur population. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region shares a short border with Afghanistan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called on the Afghan side to take further effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese nationals, projects, and institutions in the country.
On the same day as the Kabul bombing, China warned its citizens to immediately leave the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border area because of a rapidly deteriorating security situation. As The Diplomat’s Catherine Putz explained earlier: “In late November 2025, over the span of four days, there were two separate cross-border attacks targeting Chinese workers in Tajikistan near the Afghan border. At least five Chinese nationals were killed, according to government and media reports.” Tajikistan said the attacks had been carried out by “criminal groups” located in Afghanistan.
According to media reports, there have been at least 10 attacks targeting Chinese citizens or business interests in Afghanistan in recent years. Each time, the Taliban announced that investigations were underway; however, no official findings have been released to date.
Such attacks directly challenge China’s strategic agenda in Afghanistan while significantly increasing security costs for both the Chinese state and its citizens operating in the country.
The Kabul restaurant bombing was widely reported in China, unlike the other recent attacks, which received little or no coverage. Some netizens posted on official Chinese state social media accounts that China now faces the same threat from terrorism that the West experienced in previous years.
These attacks come amid years of persistent insecurity jeopardizing major Chinese projects in Pakistan, including the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Actors like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch Liberation Army – groups designated as terrorist organizations by some countries – have specifically targeted Chinese projects and interests in Pakistan. At the same time, following the two attacks on Chinese citizens in border areas of southern Tajikistan, the strategically important Dushanbe-Xinjiang road construction project has been disrupted.
When the former Afghan Republic collapsed in August 2021, almost all foreign nationals and companies, along with a sizable proportion of the Afghan population, left the country. Seeing opportunities, Chinese businesspeople moved in the opposite direction.
Over the past four years, Chinese citizens have become increasingly visible in Afghanistan. According to some sources, around 5,000 Chinese nationals currently live in Kabul. Chinese shop and restaurant owners have appeared on Afghan media talking about their lives in the country, while Chinese tourists post their adventures on social media.
In August 2025, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi became the highest ranking Chinese official to visit Kabul, holding talks with the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi. During the meeting Wang called on the Taliban to combat armed groups operating in Afghanistan, adding that tighter security ties would provide a guarantee to bilateral economic cooperation especially in the area of mining.
Wang also met the Taliban’s Prime Minister Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, telling him that China was “sincere and steadfast” in its friendship with Afghanistan.
Yet this relationship is hugely complicated by the fact that the Taliban has long given safe harbor to members of the Uyghur separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). Uyghur militants in Afghanistan have historically enjoyed opportunities for residence, education, and illicit trade. Some analysts believe this pattern continues and argue that the Taliban are pursuing a double-game policy toward China.
China is deeply concerned that Uyghur separatist fighters could attack China from their bases in Afghanistan and has sought assurances from the Taliban to prevent this from happening.
In 2021, ISKP said a Uyghur member of the group detonated a suicide bomb at a Hazara Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz province that killed over 70 worshippers and injured 120.
The vast majority of Afghanistan’s small Uyghur community are not involved in terrorism; many fled Chinese persecution and attempted to establish new lives in the country. They now find themselves in an extremely vulnerable position.
Following the Kabul Chinese restaurant bombing, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari strongly criticized the Taliban administration for allowing what he said were “safe havens” for militant groups to export extremist violence in the region.
Pakistan, China’s closest ally in the region and once the Taliban’s strongest supporter, now blames Kabul for not doing enough to prevent attacks on its territory. Deadly clashes have broken out on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in recent months. Islamabad will be hoping that the attacks on Chinese nationals by Afghan-based groups will induce Beijing to join its efforts to pressure the Taliban to take action.
Nevertheless, given the widespread presence of Chinese nationals across Afghanistan combined with the pervasive presence and reach of terrorist groups such as ISKP throughout the country, it appears increasingly unlikely that the Taliban can ensure the security and protection of Chinese citizens and interests in Afghanistan.
The continuation of these attacks may ultimately force China to confront a difficult choice: either maintain its presence at a high human and security cost, or reassess its policy toward Afghanistan, particularly with regard to investment at the scale currently underway.
