A file picture shows American troops in Afghanistan

BEIJING: China on Tuesday welcomed Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's maiden visit to Afghanistan and expressed its backing for their action plan for peace and reconciliation talks with the Taliban.

Qureshi visited Kabul on Saturday during which he held a one-on-one meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and both the leaders agreed to join hands for peace and stability in the region.

Reacting to Qureshi's visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that China commended the positive statements made by the two sides after the visit.

"China is a friend and neighbour to Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hope they can develop their relations in sound and steady way," Geng said.

"We commend their positive statements. China support the two countries in implementing their action plan and move forward the Afghan reconciliation process," he said, without elaborating.

"China will continue to play a constructive role in that and in moving forward trilateral cooperation China is in close touch with Afghanistan and Pakistan on the second trilateral meeting," he said.

Since last year, China has been holding trilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the three countries in a bid to promote reconciliation with Taliban.

The Pakistani delegation also met Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.

Qureshi's visit came amidst the US' pressure on Pakistan to play more active role in arranging peace talks with Taliban rebels.