China receives Taliban delegation amid offensive against Afghan forces

Nail Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar visited this Wednesday China, where he met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this country, in full offensive of the insurgents in Afghanistan which allowed them to take control of many districts.

Among the rapid seizures of new territory after the start of the withdrawal of international forces on May 1 is that of a major border post with Pakistan, the reopening of which represents an injection of additional funds for the insurgent funds.

The head of the Taliban political bureau in Qatar, Mullah Baradar, met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other senior officials of Xi Jinping’s regime on Wednesday.

“Points of view were exchanged on the problems of the two countries in political, economic and security matters”

Insurgent political spokesman Naeem Wardak said in a statement that Baradar arrived in China yesterday at the head of a nine-member delegation after being officially invited by Beijing.

“Views were exchanged on the two countries’ political, economic and security issues, as well as the current situation in Afghanistan and the peace process.Wardak said.

China, according to the Taliban version, “has affirmed the expansion and continuity of its aid to the Afghan nation” and that it “will not interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan”. Beijing also pledged to “help solve problems and bring peace” to Afghanistan, Wardak said.

China, which shares some 60 kilometers of border with Afghanistan, seeks to avoid being affected by hostilities in neighboring country and has already received a Taliban delegation in 2019. The trip to China is part of a series of visits by the Taliban to various countries neighboring Afghanistan, the latest on July 7 when an insurgent delegation arrived. visited Iran to discuss “bilateral issues”.

QUICK OFFENSIVE

The Taliban have intensified its offensive in Afghanistan in recent months and they captured at least 125 of the country’s 407 districts, something unprecedented in two decades of conflict. The increase in violence coincides with the onset of the final phase of withdrawal of American troops and NATO, on May 1 and which Washington hopes to complete in August.

The rapid advance in the training of insurgents has sowed doubts about the ability of the Afghan forces to contain the offensive.

Afghan authorities were forced to impose a nighttime curfew in many cities, while the United States had to continue air support to the Afghan defense forces in an attempt to give Kabul a respite.

OPENING OF THE BORDER POST WITH PAKISTAN

One of the symbolic and now monetary victories against the Afghan government is the capture of the key border point Waesh / Shaman between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban began to collect fees about transporting goods a day after Islamabad decided to open the border, a border police official told Efe, who requested anonymity. “The Taliban have imposed new tariffs and started collecting taxes on goods destined for Afghanistan or arriving in Pakistan,” the official said.

The number of trucks passing through this border post, which gives Kabul access to the seaport of the Pakistani city of Karachi, has increased from a thousand a day to just over a hundred. Corn the fact that Pakistan decided to open the border “after consulting the Taliban on the Afghan side”, according to the official, is a boost to the insurgents.

Chamar is one of the important border posts they have captured in recent months, and the Taliban has pledged to reopen them under their control.

In addition, the vice president of the Joint Pakistan-Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce, Imran Khan Kakar, told Efe that the problem was not with the Taliban.

The real problems are the insecurity which has reduced the transit of goods and the “unjustified” double tax, since carriers are forced to pay first to the insurgents and then to the Afghan government, when they arrive in the capital of the southern province. from Kandahar.

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

Although both parties to the conflict have said the only way to end two decades of war in Afghanistan is at the negotiating table, so far the Doha intra-Afghan peace talks have produced no results. concrete.

In this sense, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said today during an official visit to India that “the only way to resolve the conflict peacefully is at the negotiating table”, while criticizing the attempt of Taliban to “take the country by force”. . “

(With information from EFE)

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