China envoy, Taliban meet
Russian official visits Afghanistan’s capital at same time
KABUL, Afghanistan — China’s foreign minister made a surprise visit Thursday in Afghanistan’s capital, meeting with the country’s new Taliban rulers — even as the international community has reacted negatively over the former insurgents’ broken promise to reopen schools to girls beyond the sixth grade.
According to the official Bakhtar News Agency, Wang Yi was to meet with Taliban leaders “to discuss various issues, including the extension of political relations, economic, and transit cooperation.”
The Taliban, who seized power last August during the chaotic final weeks of the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after 20 years of war, have been seeking international recognition to open up Afghanistan’s economy, which has been in free fall since their takeover.
Wang’s visit came as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was also in Kabul. Kabulov also met with the Taliban-appointed foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban spokesman Qahar Balkhi said.
“The meeting focused on strengthening political, economic, transit and regional relations,” Balkhi tweeted.
Both Beijing and Moscow have become significant regional players. Russia and China have both criticized the hasty U.S. departure from Afghanistan.
Both Moscow and Beijing have avoided criticizing the new rulers.
On Wednesday, the Taliban unexpectedly reversed plans to reopen schools in Afghanistan to girls above the sixth grade, reneging on their promise to the international community.
The U.S.-led coalition unseated the Taliban in 2001 after they refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America. The Taliban returned to power in mid-August and installed an all-male, Taliban-only administration. The international community has been urging them to open up the government to ethnic minorities and women.
Wang is one of the highest-level visitors to Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. China has economic and mining interests in Afghanistan and Afghans familiar with past talks between the Taliban and Chinese officials say Beijing wants Taliban commitments to prevent China’s Uighur opponents from setting up operations in Afghanistan.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin would not comment on Wang’s visit to Kabul, only saying that China was “stepping up preparations for the third meeting of foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbors.
China stands ready to “continue to contribute our strengths and advantages as a neighbor to the long-term stability of Afghanistan,” Wang told reporters at a daily briefing.
China also has used Afghanistan as a base for insurgent attacks against Chinese nationals in neighboring Pakistan. It also has a multibillion-dollar road project in Pakistan linking the Arabian Sea Port of Gwadar with China in the northwest.
VISIT TO INDIA
The Chinese foreign minister arrived in the Indian capital on Thursday, the highest-level visit since troops from the two countries engaged in a faceoff and occasional clashes along their disputed border, an Indian official said.
Kshitij Tyagi, an official with India’s External Ministry, said Wang will meet India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar today. Indian media said Wang also is likely to meet with national security adviser Ajit Doval before traveling to Nepal.
There was no official announcement of the visit by either New Delhi or Beijing.
“Nothing from us regarding this,” Tyagi said earlier when asked to confirm the Chinese foreign minister’s arrival in New Delhi on Thursday.
The foreign ministers have met in Moscow and Tajikistan in the past two years on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meetings. But they haven’t succeeded in ending the military standoff along the mountainous border area in eastern Ladakh that has disturbed their political and economic ties.
India says China occupies 15,000 square miles of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau, which India considers part of Ladakh, where the current faceoff is taking place.
India has rejected any unilateral change in the border status quo.