China wary of supporting Taliban in Afghanistan, claims report

China, which has been one of the few countries to support Taliban rule, now seems to have realised its mistake of embracing the outfit in Afghanistan as Beijing appears to lose confidence in the Taliban that had long been a global pariah due to its support of terrorism and the repression of women, said a media report. In its report, Al Arabiya said, China has made its views clear on the prevailing conditions in Afghanistan. Recently, a senior Chinese minister expressed his deep concern about the “complex and intricate” Afghan situation that terrorist groups including ISIS and Al-Qaeda are using to expand their presence in the region. “China seems to have realized its mistake of embracing the Taliban in Afghanistan. Four months ago, China was among the first few countries to embrace the Taliban in the war-torn country in August. Four months later, Beijing seems to be losing confidence in Taliban that had long been a global pariah due to its support of terrorism and the repression of women,” the report said.

Earlier, on December 22, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao noted that the terrorist organisations for whom borders and boundaries have no meaning, cannot be fought by one country alone, adding that the international community should join hands to combat terrorism. On October 28, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that changes in the Afghan situation have complicated the regional and international counterterrorism situation, and the abuse of the Internet and emerging technologies by terrorist forces has become an increasingly acute problem, Al Arabiya reported. The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis. China which has been eying on Afghanistan’s mineral resources for several years decided to include it in Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) interest China, but has done little and that too only in principle since August. That is because the Chinese are worried about their Sunni Uighurs in Xinjiang teaming up with the Taliban, the report said. According to the report, Beijing has always been uncomfortable with the Taliban’s ideological agenda. Beijing has repeatedly criticized the US for acting “irresponsibly” in its “hasty withdrawal.” (ANI)