The Taliban government in Afghanistan now has an ambassador to China.

The former government representative Bilal Karimi he arrived in China at the end of November to take up his duties, the Taliban-run foreign ministry said in a statement.

He is the first officially accredited representative of Afghanistan in a foreign country after the Taliban seized power in 2021.

“He is the officially accredited ambassador of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to the People’s Republic of China,” ministry spokesman Abdul Kahar Balki told Reuters, adding that he is the first official to hold such a post from 2021.

The previous Taliban official posted to the Afghan embassy in Beijing was a chargé d’affaires, a position that does not require diplomatic credentials to the host country – which depends on the official recognition of the envoy’s government.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of business hours.

The Chinese government has not said whether it considers the move a step towards official recognition.

No country, including China, has officially recognized the Taliban government since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan and the movement seized power.

In September, China became the first country to officially appoint a new ambassador to Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power.

Many other countries have chargé d’affaires or ambassadors who had submitted their credentials to the previous NATO-backed government.