Beijing is ready to support the Afghan government in reconciling with the Taliban, the Chinese foreign minister said Thursday, the latest sign of China's desire to expand its role in its war-torn neighbour.

Wang Yi, speaking on a visit to Pakistan, said that Afghanistan's long-term stability depended on a "broad-based and inclusive national reconciliation" which needed international support.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani visited Beijing in October, soon after taking office, and China promised $245 million in "free assistance", having already secured major oil and copper-mining concessions in the country.

But China has previously said little about supporting political efforts in Afghanistan, with which it shares a 76-kilometre (47-mile) border.

Wang said that with NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan having finished in December, it was time to end the country's decades of turmoil and poverty.

"We will support the Afghan government in realising reconciliation with various political factions including Taliban," Wang told a news conference in Islamabad, speaking through an interpreter.

"The international community needs to give support and encouragement. China is ready to play a constructive role and will provide necessary facilitation any time if it is required by various parties in Afghanistan."

Wang made the comments at a joint press conference with Pakistan's foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz. He also announced Chinese President Xi Jinping would visit Pakistan "at an early date this year".

China's international role has come under criticism from some parties including US President Barack Obama, who in an interview with the New York Times last year called Beijing a "free rider" for not doing more to quell violence in the Middle East.

Last month the Taliban, still resilient despite NATO's 13-year war against them, said they had sent a delegation to China, in an English-language statement posted on their website.

The militants insisted the visit was not for the purposes of mediation.

Resource-hungry China has a keen interest in Afghanistan's mineral deposits, which could be worth more than $1 trillion, according to studies by the US Geological Survey.

But there are major obstacles to exploiting the deposits, from poor infrastructure in a country that has lived through more than 30 years of near-continuous war, to the ongoing Taliban insurgency.

NATO wound down its combat mission against the Taliban in late December, leaving Afghan forces to battle the militants.

Beijing is also working on an "economic corridor" through Pakistan to boost trade with its close ally and help growth in its own restive western Xinjiang region.

Chinese concern at Islamist militancy in Xinjiang has grown in recent years and Beijing is thought to have pressured Pakistan to crack down on insurgent training camps in its restive tribal areas.