Rumors swirl in Kabul over attack on Chinese-operated hotel

On December 12, at least three unidentified armed men opened fire inside the multi-story Kabul Longan Hotel, which is located in the heart of the capital of Afghanistan.

The Islamic State Khorasan Province (IS-K) group claimed responsibility for the attack, which left three of the perpetrators dead and 21 people injured. China’s foreign ministry said five of its nationals were among the wounded, and has advised its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country as soon as possible.

The hotel building has prominent signage with its Chinese name (喀布尔桂园酒店). “The hotel was frequently visited by foreigners, predominantly by Chinese diplomats and Chinese businessmen,” a source in Kabul told The China Project on the condition of anonymity. “It was a guesthouse for Chinese nationals.”

The hotel is operated by a Chinese person, according to Chinese media reports.

China’s increased presence under Taliban rule

China has continued to increase its investment, trade, and business activities in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power in August 2021. Chinese businesses are also expanding their plans in the country this year, after the Taliban approved the first Sino-Afghan joint project to develop a $216 million industrial park on the outskirts of Kabul in April.

The park will include joint projects on construction, the production of building materials, and mining operations — an area of particular interest to Chinese businesses because of Afghanistan’s massive deposits of copper and lithium, both of which are used to make things like electric vehicles and clean-energy storage systems.

But perhaps more important than China’s economic interest in Afghanistan are its security fears. China shares a 47-mile border with Afghanistan, and Beijing has long feared that the conflict-torn country could become a sanctuary for minority Uyghur activists who could cross over from Xinjiang. Although the Taliban has assured Beijing that Uyghurs militants would not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a base, in exchange for China’s economic support and investment, Beijing remains on high alert.

This is one reason why many locals suspect that the Kabul Longan Hotel was more than just a place of accommodation for Chinese businessmen.

Hotel or spy shop?

“Cameras and other surveillance devices installed inside the hotel make it a sort of intelligence unit,” according to The China Project’s source, echoing conjecture from a Twitter account called Zhenghe Forum, which commented: “​​Unlike other hotels, this hotel is full of surveillance systems such as cameras inside. Don’t understand why [they] install[ed] many cameras in a[n] enclosed building.” The account also says if “you call to ask about the rate, the hotel asks you to send your passport information [regardless] of whether you will stay or not.”

“Presently, Chinese are not just here for business activities. Some of them are engaged in tracking the whereabouts of the Uyghur militants in Afghanistan,” the source in Kabul told The China Project.

Why would the Islamic State attack Chinese interests?

No matter what has actually been going on at the Kabul Longan Hotel, there is a clear reason for IS-K militants to attack it. As The China Project’s Kabul source put it, “Chinese were targeted to scare them so that there was intergovernmental strain. IS-K, an arch rival to the Taliban, does not want the Chinese to invest or do business in the country under the Taliban government.”

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Washington D.C.-based Wilson Center, confirmed this theory to Reuters: “The idea is to push potential partners — the few the Taliban can count on — away from the Taliban,” he said.