BEIJING: China recently played host to a Taliban delegation as part of efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan, China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Representatives of the Taliban, who have been fighting for years to expel foreign forces and defeat the US-backed government in Kabul, have been holding talks with US diplomats for months.
The focus has been the Taliban demand for the withdrawal of US and other foreign forces, in exchange for guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for militant attacks.
Taliban negotiators have also met senior Afghan politicians and civil society representatives, including in Moscow recently, as part of so-called intra-Afghan dialogue to discuss their country’s future.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban representative in Qatar, and some of his colleagues had recently visited China, though he did not say exactly when.
Chinese officials met them to discuss the Afghan peace process and counter-terror issues, Lu told the briefing, without saying who met the delegation.
“China pays great attention to the evolving situation in Afghanistan in recent years. We have always played a positive role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process,” Lu said.
China supports Afghans resolving their problems themselves through talks, and this visit was an important part of China promoting such peace talks, he said.
“Both sides believe that this exchange was beneficial and agreed to keep in touch about and cooperate on continuing to seek a political resolution for Afghanistan and fighting terrorism.”
China’s far western Chinese region of Xinjiang shares a short border with Afghanistan.
China has long worried about links between militant groups and what it says are Islamist extremists operating in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur people, who speak a Turkic language.
China, a close ally of Pakistan, has been deepening its economic and political ties with Kabul and is also using its influence to try to bring the two uneasy neighbors closer.
The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, visited Kabul last December.
Taliban delegation holds talks in China as part of peace push
Taliban delegation holds talks in China as part of peace push
- Focus has been the Taliban demand for the withdrawal of US and other foreign forces
- China pays great attention to the evolving situation in Afghanistan in recent years, Chinese official
Saudi Arabia condemns deadly mosque bombing in Pakistan’s capital
- The Kingdom rejects targeting of places of worship, expresses solidarity with Pakistan
- Saudi foreign ministry offers condolences to victims’ families, wishes injured recovery
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia on Friday condemned the suicide bombing that targeted a mosque in Islamabad, expressing solidarity with Pakistan after the attack killed and injured dozens on the outskirts of the capital.
The blast, which struck during Friday prayers, killed at least 31 people and wounded more than 160 others, according to Pakistani authorities.
In a statement issued by its foreign ministry, Saudi Arabia denounced the targeting of a place of worship and rejected all forms of violence and extremism.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist bombing that targeted a mosque in the capital of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Islamabad,” the statement said.
It added that the Kingdom stood firmly against attacks on civilians and places of worship and reaffirmed its support for Pakistan in confronting militant violence.
The ministry also extended condolences to the families of those killed and expressed sympathy with the Pakistani government and people, wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.
No militant group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which Pakistani officials say is being investigated.
