A top-level Taliban delegation is in China for talks with Beijing officials, spokesman Mohammad Naeem said, as the insurgents continue a sweeping offensive across Afghanistan — including areas along their shared border.
The delegation, led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, met with the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi for talks on the peace process and security issues. The talks come amid growing concerns in Beijing over the activities of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) that seeks to establish a Uyghur state, a report in Hindustan Times.
”Politics, economy and issues related to the security of both countries and the current situation of Afghanistan and the peace process were discussed in the meetings,” Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem tweeted.
Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political office in Qatar and has been the lead negotiator with the US, met Wang in the northern city of Tianjin, the South China Morning Post reported citing sources familiar with the arrangements.
“The Islamic Emirate assured China that Afghanistan’s soil would not be used against any country’s security. They (China) promised not to interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs, but instead help to solve problems and bring peace,” Naeem said.
Security in Afghanistan, with which China shares a border, has been deteriorating fast as the United States withdraws its troops by September. The Taliban has launched a flurry of offensives, taking districts and border crossings around the country while peace talks in Qatar’s capital have not made substantive progress.
This is for the first time that a senior Taliban leader has visited China since the group launched a massive offensive to capture territory across Afghanistan. China had hosted a Taliban delegation in 2019 that met Deng Xijun, then the special envoy for Afghanistan.
The report added that Chinese officials had in the past participated in talks with the Taliban along with representatives from Afghanistan, the US and Pakistan but these had not resulted in any forward movement in efforts to find a political settlement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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