Locals walk past shattered glass of a building, following an explosion in the Shahr-e Naw area of Kabul on Jan. 20.BAIS YUSUFI/AFP/Getty Images

Ruchi Kumar is an Istanbul-based journalist who covers conflict, politics and gender.

A reported suicide bombing that took place in Afghanistan in January – at a Chinese noodle restaurant in the heart of Kabul, leaving seven dead and injuring dozens – shows just how much the country has transformed in the years since the Taliban took over.

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), a branch of the Islamic State terrorist group, took responsibility for the attack, claiming to target the restaurant because it was frequented by Chinese nationals, and as revenge for China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. (Tragically, the restaurant was owned and operated by a Chinese Uyghur Muslim, Abdul Majid, who was among those killed.)

China’s influence in Afghanistan has certainly been on the rise. Several Chinese businesses had cropped up on that same Kabul street in recent years, and while no official figures have been shared publicly, analysts estimate that about 5,000 Chinese nationals live and work in Afghanistan, many of them in Kabul – a sure sign of the success of China’s investment diplomacy.

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