China Urges Taliban Action to Protect Citizens Following Kabul Attack

Tue Jan 20 2026 21:15:17 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

After a deadly explosion at a Chinese restaurant in Kabul that left seven dead, including a Chinese national, Beijing calls for enhanced security measures for its citizens in Afghanistan.

Beijing has issued a strong demand to the Taliban government for the protection of its citizens following an explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in Kabul that killed at least seven people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which has prompted China to advise against travel to Afghanistan.

Beijing has demanded the Taliban government protect its citizens after an explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least seven people.

Six Afghans and one Chinese national were killed, and several more injured, in the blast at a Chinese restaurant in a heavily-guarded part of the city centre on Monday, officials told the media.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack - although police in Kabul said the nature of the explosion is unknown so far and is being investigated.

China has urged its citizens not to travel to Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized control in 2021. Islamic State has claimed numerous bombings since then.

Speaking on Tuesday, Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun added that China had made urgent representations with the Afghan side, demanding that the Afghan side spare no effort to treat the injured, further take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens.

City police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion took place near the kitchen of the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which is located under a guesthouse in the capital's Shahr-e-Naw area.

Dejan Panic, the Afghanistan director of humanitarian group EMERGENCY, reported that their hospital received 20 people, with seven dead on arrival, including four women and a child among the injured.

Video footage circulating on social media showed a large hole in the side of the building, and eyewitnesses reported that locals helped rush critically injured individuals to the hospital. Large white sheets were placed to cover the damaged structure.

According to police spokesman Zadran, the restaurant primarily served Chinese Muslims and was run by a Chinese Muslim man from the Xinjiang region, along with his wife and Afghan business partner.

In its statement, the local IS branch noted that China was among its targets due to increasing crimes against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims.

China has been accused of committing human rights abuses against the Uyghur population in the north-western Xinjiang region, allegations the Chinese government denies.

IS previously claimed an attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul in 2022, which resulted in several injuries. More recently, six Chinese nationals were killed in separate incidents over the Tajik-Afghan border, prompting Beijing to instruct its citizens to leave the border area.

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