IRIA News

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the Taliban interim government’s Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on October 25 in Doha, Qatar.

This is was Chinese Foreign Minister Wang’s first meeting with the Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mullah Baradar after the Taliban assumed power in the country. Earlier in July, Wang and Mullah Baradar met in Tianjin, China, shortly before the takeover of Kabul.

During the meeting, Wang said that Afghanistan is now standing at a critical stage of transforming from chaos to governance. Wang noted that the country is facing quadruple challenges, a humanitarian crisis, economic chaos, terrorist threats, and governance difficulties. Wang also noted that overcoming these challenges requires more understanding and support from the international community.

Baradar briefed Wang on the current situation in Afghanistan, which he said is under control and improving, with the governments at all levels being gradually established.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang “expressed China’s willingness to continue to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan within its capacity and work with the international community to help Afghanistan alleviate temporary difficulties and realize economic reconstruction as well as independent development”, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China also pledged an additional $6 million worth of humanitarian assistance, including medicine and food.

“China hopes that the Afghan Taliban can further demonstrate openness and inclusiveness, unite all ethnic groups and factions in Afghanistan to work together for peaceful reconstruction. It should effectively protect the rights and interests of women and children, adopt a friendly policy toward its neighboring countries, and build a modern country that conforms to the wishes of the people and the trend of the times,” the statement read.

Wang also told the Afghan Taliban official that China always respects Afghanistan’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, and supports the Afghan people in independently determining their own destiny and choosing the development path.

Wang also called on the U.S. and the West to lift sanctions, and said the country faced “a historic opportunity” to “master its own destiny”.

During the meeting, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Baradar assured Chinese Foreign Minister Wang that the Taliban would continue to take “inclusive measures” and recruit personnel of all Afghan ethnicities to participate in state governance in the future. “The Afghan Taliban is willing to strengthen the efforts to protect the rights and interests of women and children and will not deprive them of the rights to education and work,” Baradar said.

Mullah Baradar also informed the Chinese delegation that women in Afghan medical institutions, airports and other places have resumed their work, while girls in many provinces have returned to school. He also expressed thanks to China, an important neighbor of Afghanistan, for the respect and friendliness it has shown to Afghanistan during these difficult times.

During the meeting, Wang emphasized that the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an international terrorist organization listed by the UN Security Council, not only poses a real threat to China’s national security and territorial integrity but also jeopardizes Afghanistan’s domestic stability and long-term peace.

ETIM militants are believed to have hideouts in Afghanistan and China blames the group for carrying out terrorist attacks in the western Xinjiang region bordering Afghanistan.

Wang said that he hopes and believes that the Afghan Taliban will make a clean break with the ETIM and other terrorist organizations, and take effective measures to resolutely crackdown on them. In response, Baradar said, “Pursuing a friendly policy toward China is the firm choice by the Afghan Taliban, which hopes to strengthen cooperation in various fields.”

Baradar told the Chinese foreign minister that the Afghan Taliban attaches great importance to China’s security concerns, will resolutely honor its promise, and never allow anyone or any force to use the Afghan territory to harm its neighbor.

On Tuesday, the spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid released a video on his Twitter account showing Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi presenting a gift to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

During the meeting, Wang Yi said that China respects Afghanistan’s exploration of a pattern that suits its own conditions, and also respects the interim government’s national implementation of policies.

Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan’s interim government Muttaqi said that the new government has realized actual governance of Afghanistan, and the country highly cherishes peace after 45 years of war. “Good relations with China are important to Afghanistan, and the country is working to realize its own security and promote regional peace,” he added.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two sides agreed to set up a liaison mechanism to discuss future exchanges. A Taliban spokesman also said in a statement the two sides agreed “to hold joint meetings in the future and create mechanisms to further broaden cooperation” between Afghanistan and China.

Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qahar Balkhi said “H.E. Muttaqi called on the Chinese side to address issues pertaining to Afghan traders and to facilitate the export of onyx marble, precious plants, dried apricots, almonds, dried figs, pistachios & particularly pine nuts.”

Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called on China to provide educational opportunities for Afghan students in China. The Taliban foreign minister also expressed interest in Chinese investments and in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including extending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.

Earlier, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a statement “As a traditional friendly neighbor and partner of Afghanistan, China has always advocated guiding the sound development of the situation in Afghanistan through dialogue and contact and helping the Afghans to tide through difficulties.”

During the G20s meeting on Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the international community to put people’s livelihood first and help Afghanistan tackle the humanitarian crisis.

China already delivered the first batch of aid and accelerated the shipment of the 200-million-yuan worth of emergency aid to Afghanistan, including food, winter supplies, vaccines, and medicine.