Beijing: China says the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan gives the country a new chance to take its fate in its own hands, while calling on the Taliban to cut all ties with terrorist groups.
Speaking on Tuesday in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the US should consider its role in Afghanistan as 20 years of military involvement failed to bring about peace.
With the United States and NATO leaving Afghanistan, the Afghan people have a new opportunity to take the destiny of their country and their people in their own hands,” Wang said in a news release posted on the ministry’s website on Wednesday. .
In remarks directed at the Taliban, Wang said the deeply conservative group should “draw a line with all terrorist forces, and return to Afghanistan’s political mainstream with a responsible attitude towards the country and people”.
China shares a narrow border with Afghanistan and is concerned about Islamic extremism spreading to the traditional Muslim region of Xinjiang. As part of those containment efforts, Beijing is sharing ties with its Central Asian neighbors such as Tajikistan. (AP)
