Taliban say China their ‘principal partner’
China is the Taliban’s “principal partner” in the international community, the Islamist group has said in its strongest signal yet of diplomatic priorities.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, yesterday claimed Beijing was “ready to invest in and reconstruct” Afghanistan, as he set out hopes that China would provide a gateway into global markets.
His remarks offer the clearest map to date of the diplomatic direction in which the Taliban are turning, as well as how they intend to solve the economic crisis currently crippling Afghanistan.
Mujahid said China would revive Afghan copper mining and production, as he expressed admiration for the One Belt One Road project, under which China extends significant loans to other countries to invest in infrastructure.
Western critics have framed the initiative as a debt trap that helps Beijing extend geopolitical influence, a claim rejected by Chinese leaders. The senior Taliban official’s remarks came after Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, declared that Britain “will not be recognising the Taliban any time in the foreseeable future”.
Raab acknowledged that there was “important scope for engagement
and dialogue”, but warned that acceptance of the new regime as a legitimate government was some way off.
Britain and other Western nations view formal recognition as a diplomatic lever with which to apply pressure on the Taliban to allow at-risk Afghans to leave the country, to respect human rights and to allow girls to go to school. A more calculating realpolitik has characterised Beijing’s approach to the new Afghan administration. A delegation of the Islamist group visited China in July, meeting Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, in Tianjin for talks.
China has also been one of the few countries not to have evacuated staff from its Kabul embassy.
Mujahid told Italian newspaper Repubblica yesterday: “China is our principal partner and for us represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity because it’s ready to invest in and reconstruct our country. Touting Afghanistan’s rich natural resources, the Taliban official went on: “Beyond that, we have rich copper mines which thanks to the Chinese can be brought back into production and modernised. China represents our passport to the markets of the whole world.”
Boris Johnson last night said Britain needed to “level with” the Taliban to make them understand that “if they want engagement with the West, with us, our friends — and I know that they do — then the first priority for us is safe passage for those who want to leave”.
Earlier, Raab indicated that Kabul airport could reopen “in the near future”, raising hopes among diplomats that evacuations of vulnerable Afghans to Britain could resume within days.