Kabul(National Times): Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid on Monday expressed that the group “desires” to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He also informed that the Taliban will address Islamabad’s concerns about Pakistan based terror group ‘Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’ (TTP), Samaa News reported.

Mujahid also confirmed that an upcoming meeting between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt General Faiz Hameed and Taliban senior leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

CPEC is a part of China’s most ambitious project ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, aimed at renewing the country’s historic trade routes in the coastal countries of south-east Asia.

In 2015, China announced the ‘China Pakistan Economic Corridor’ (CPEC) project which is worth USD 46 billion.

With CPEC, Beijing aims to expand its influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia in order to counter the influence of the United States and India.

The CPEC would link Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port (626 kilometers west of Karachi) in Balochistan on the Arabian Sea to China’s western Xinjiang region. It also includes plans to create road, rail, and oil pipeline links to improve connectivity between China and the Middle East.