Taliban delegation meets Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on two-day visit to China

A Taliban delegation led by its chief negotiator Abdul Ghani Baradar on Wednesday met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussed the current Afghan situation against the backdrop of the rising concern over the activities of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) that seeks to establish an Uyghur state. A nine-member delegation has gone to China for the diplomatic talks on a two-day visit. Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naem summarised the meeting by saying that both the parties discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and the peace process. However, no reaction was sought from the Chinese ministry. In a series of tweets, the Taliban’s spokesman Dr Naem assured China that Afghan territory would not be used against the security of any country.

Meanwhile, China pledged to continue and expand its cooperation with the Afghan people, saying that they would not interfere in Afghanistan's affairs, but would help solve problems and build peace. "China's position is that this should be resolved within Afghanistan. And the situation in Afghanistan should not threaten China's security," a source said to ANI. China had previously hosted the Taliban in 2019 when a nine-member delegation travelled to Beijing and met Deng Xijun, then representative for Afghanistan.

Bejing and Pakistan concerned over "spillover effect" of worsening Afghan situation

Recently, Bejing also held a meeting with Pakistan, amid concerns over the “spillover effect” from the worsening security situation in Afghanistan. On July 24, Pakistan’s Dr Shah Mehmood Qureshi met Wang Yi and decided to take joint action to tackle the issue. China has been closely watching the progress of US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and sought to play a bigger role in the country.

Taliban has escalated its offensive against security forces and civilians. They are rapidly gaining territory in Afghanistan. This comes as Taliban-led violence has increased in Afghanistan as foreign troops have been withdrawn from the war-torn country.

Taliban strengthens attack in Afghanistan

Meanwhile, the situation continues to remain worrisome in Afghanistan where the Taliban has reportedly controlled over 85% of the country with some of the provinces witnessing the extremist group reimposing crippling rules against women. The Islamist group is trying to capture several new areas in Afghanistan after the foreign troops vacated those areas. The Taliban has re-imposed repressive laws and other retrograde policies on women that defined its iron fist rule from 1996 to 2001 including enforcing their version of Islamic Sharia law. 

The Afghan forces are putting up a great fight against Talibani forces and have recaptured control over some provinces including Kapisa's Nirjab district. The Taliban has destroyed or set ablaze at least 260 public service office buildings and looted the equipment in 149 districts, informed Nader Naderi, Afghanistan's Head of Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Services Commission (IARCSC) on July 15. Further detailing the impacts of Taliban control over its conquered areas, he said that at least 50,000 civil service employees have been left jobless along with hampering 112 projects as the conflict between the insurgent groups and Afghan military escalated with foreign troop withdrawal.

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