Beijing: A day after legitimising the Taliban in Afghanistan, China said it encourages the Afghan Taliban to pursue a moderate and prudent religious policy, work with other parties to form an open and inclusive political structure, pursue a foreign policy of peace and friendship, and in particular, live in harmony with its neighbouring countries and achieve reconstruction and development in Afghanistan.
“In particular, efforts should be made to prevent casualties. China has also noted that the Afghan Taliban said it would take responsible actions to ensure the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign missions in Afghanistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying, said here on August 17, 2021.
Chunyin reiterated that China will continue to maintain close communication and coordination with all relevant parties to push for an end to the war and lasting peace in Afghanistan at an early date. She said Beijing hoped that the new Afghan regime will make a clean break with all kinds of international terrorist forces, restrain and combat terrorist forces including the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a gathering place of terrorist and extremist forces again. “The ETIM is an international terrorist organization designated by the UN Security Council, which poses a direct threat to the security of China and its people. Combating the ETIM is the common responsibility of the international community. China once cooperated with the Afghan government in the fight against the ETIM, and now the head of the Afghan Taliban has made it clear to China that no force will be allowed to use the Afghan territory to do anything harmful to China,” she said.
Also read: China accords legitimacy to Taliban while Afghans continue to flee Kabul
Chunying said China had all along maintained contact and communication with the Afghan Taliban on the basis of fully respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty and the will of all factions in the country, and played a constructive role in promoting the political settlement of the Afghan issue – “In the past few months alone, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the second China+Central Asia (C+C5) foreign ministers’ meeting, the fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, attended the foreign ministers’ meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, and engaged in close communication and interactions with important stakeholders on the Afghan issue including Russia, Pakistan, the United States, the Central Asian countries, the European Union, Iran, Turkey, etc., and put forward China’s proposal for achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan at an early date,” she elaborated at a press conference on August 17, 2021a.
On July 28, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi had met with the visiting delegation led by head of the Afghan Taliban political committee Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjinn. He had expressed the hope that the Afghan Taliban will put the interests of the country and nation first, hold high the banner of peace talks, set the goal of peace, build a positive image and pursue an inclusive policy. All factions and ethnic groups in Afghanistan should form solidarity, truly implement the “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned” principle, push for early substantive results in the peace and reconciliation process, and independently establish a broad-based and inclusive political structure that suits Afghanistan’s national realities, she said.
“China continues to maintain communication with all parties after major changes took place in Afghanistan in recent days. Last night, State Councilor Wang Yi had telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Blinken upon invitation. The Chinese side also participated in the UNSC emergency meeting on Afghanistan,” she said. She added: “China will continue to maintain close communication and coordination with all relevant parties to push for an end to the war and lasting peace in Afghanistan at an early date.”
Mocking at the USA, Chunying said the US had launched the Afghan War in the name of counterterrorism. “But has the US won? For 20 years, the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan grew to more than 20 from a single digit. Has the US brought peace to the Afghan people?
She said for 20 years, more than 100,000 Afghans had been dying in the gunshots of US troops and its ally forces, and more than 10 million people had been displaced. “The Afghan War caused an average loss of $60 million on a daily basis, putting a drag on the socioeconomic development of Afghanistan. The US troops have also paid the price of more than 2400 deaths and over two trillion dollars,” she said.
The spokesperson went ahead in her criticism of US President Joe Biden. She said she had also noticed that US President Joe Biden said, the US mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. “This is the truth. Wherever the US sets foot in, be it Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan, we see turbulence, division, broken families, deaths and other scars in the mess it has left. The US power and role is destructive rather than constructive,” she said.
As State Councilor Wang Yi stressed in his phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Augustt 15 neigh, Chunyin said facts proved again that military intervention and power politics win no support and are doomed to fail.
“A model copied from another country can hardly fit or stand in a country with distinctively different history, culture and national conditions. Solving problems with power and military methods would only lead to even more problems,” she added.
Responding to President Biden’s remarks that he will not double down on a civil war in a foreign country, or attempt to remake a country through the endless military deployments of US forces”, Chunying said” “We hope the US could make a serious reflection on its wilful military intervention and belligerent policy, stop using military and human rights as an excuse to arbitrarily interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in other countries and regions.”
Launching a scathing attack at the US, she said it was the USA that had launched the Afghan War in the name of counterterrorism. But has the US won? she asked. For 20 years, the number of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan grew to more than 20 from a single digit. Has the US brought peace to the Afghan people? For 20 years, more than 100,000 Afghans have dead in the gunshots of US troops and its ally forces, and more than 10 million people have been displaced. The Afghan War caused an average loss of $60 million on a daily basis, putting a drag on the socioeconomic development of Afghanistan. The US troops also paid the price of more than 2400 deaths and over two trillion dollars.
“I also noticed that President Biden said, the US mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building,” she said, adding that this was the truth. “Wherever the US sets foot in, be it Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan, we see turbulence, division, broken families, deaths and other scars in the mess it has left.
The US power and role is destructive rather than constructive, Chunying said that as State Councilor Wang Yi stressed in his phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on August 16 night, facts have proved again that military intervention and power politics win no support and are doomed to fail. “A model copied from another country can hardly fit or stand in a country with distinctively different history, culture and national conditions. Solving problems with power and military methods would only lead to even more problems,” she said.
“I also noticed President Biden said in his remarks that he will not double down on a civil war in a foreign country, or attempt to remake a country through the endless military deployments of US forces. We hope the US could make a serious reflection on its wilful military intervention and belligerent policy, stop using military and human rights as an excuse to arbitrarily interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and undermine peace and stability in other countries and regions,” she said.
– global bihari bureau
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