China hopes Taliban will establish ‘open, inclusive’ Islamic govt

China on Monday reacted guardedly to the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan which shares borders with its volatile Xinjiang province hoping that the group delivers on its commitment to form an ldquoopen and inclusiverdquo Islamic government and stand by its word not to allow terror outfits especially the Uygur Islamic militants to operate from its soilWhile confusion and concern gripped various world capitals to evacuate their diplomats and nationals in haste following a sudden capture of power by the Taliban on Sunday China which last month hosted a Taliban delegation outwardly appeared calm with its diplomats engaged with the Afghan militant group for a peaceful transitionCommenting for the first time on the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying in a media briefing here expressed hope that the Taliban will abide by its commitment to ensure a peaceful transition of power taking full responsibility for the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign diplomatic missionsTaliban insurgents swept Kabul on Sunday after the USbacked Afghan government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country bringing an unprecedented end to a twodecade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the warravaged nationWhile most of the embassies in Kabul including that of the US India and the EU countries rushed to evacuate their diplomatic staff Hua said the Chinese Embassy is up and running with its ambassador and some staffHowever most of the Chinese nationals have already been evacuated from Afghanistan she saidldquoThe situation in Afghanistan has experienced major changes We respect Afghanistans peoples will and choicerdquo Hua saidThe war in Afghanistan has lasted over 40 years Itrsquos time to stop the war and realise peace is the wish of the 30million Afghan people and the aspiration of the international community and regional countries she saidldquoWe noticed the statement from the Afghan Taliban yesterday Sunday saying that the war is over and they will start consultation on establishment of an open and inclusive Islamic government and take responsibility for the safety of Afghan citizens and foreign diplomatic corpsrdquo the spokesperson saidldquoWe hope this will be implemented to ensure a peaceful transition stop violence and terrorism and make sure people are free from war and build their new homerdquo Hua saidShe struck a cautious note while replying to a question on when will China recognise the Taliban government and whether Beijing attached any condition for thatOn the basis of fully respecting Afghanistans national sovereignty and the will of all parties Beijing has been maintaining contact and communication with the Taliban and playing a constructive role in promoting a political settlement she saidldquoWe hope the Afghan Taliban will be united with other parties and with all nations and build a political framework in keeping with national conditions that is broadly inclusive and will lay the foundation for enduring peacerdquo she saidObservers say China which is being closely guided by its allweather ally Pakistan in shaping up its Afghanistan policy in the light of a new situation may recognise the Talibanled government once it is formedA Taliban delegation headed by the head of its Political Commission Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Chinese city of Tianjin on July 24 during which Wang asked the militant group to make a clean break with all terrorist organisations especially the ETIM East Turkestan Islamic Movement which is waging an insurgency in Xinjiang home of 10million Uygur MuslimsBaradar told Wang that the Afghan Taliban will never allow any force to use the Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China The Afghan Taliban believes that Afghanistan should develop friendly relations with neighbouring countries and the international community staterun Global Times reported on MondayThe Taliban delegationrsquos visit followed Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshirsquos visit for talks with Wang China is banking on Pakistan to pressure the Taliban to prevent the regrouping of ETIM militants in Xinjiang borders to stir up trouble thereRecalling Baradarrsquos commitment Hua emphasised the Talibans assurance to Wang that it will not permit antiChina forcesAccording to a recent UN report hundreds of militants belonging to the ETIM which is affiliated to the alQaeda terror group are converging in Afghanistan amidst the military advances made by the TalibanXinjiang shares borders with Afghanistan Pakistanoccupied Kashmir PoK besides Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan and TajikistanReferring to the Talibans assurances Hua said the Afghan Taliban has repeatedly said that they wanted to develop a good relationship with China and hope that Beijing will take part in the reconstruction and development of the nationShe said that the Taliban has assured that it will never allow any forces to use the country Afghanistan to harm ChinardquoldquoWe welcome that and we have always respected the countys sovereignty and independence and integrity We do not interfere in internal affairs and our friendship is for all the people of Afghanistan We respect peoples independence and choice and we continue to develop friendly relations and play a constructive role in peace and reconstructionrdquo Hua addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever