China hosts key meeting on Afghanistan

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - China on Thursday hosted a key foreign ministers meeting among Afghanistan's neighbors on political, security, economic, and other issues concerning the war-torn country.

China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan attended the third foreign ministers' meeting in eastern city of Tunxi.

A joint statement released by Pakistan after the meeting called for respect to the "independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan."

Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was also in attendance, along with the foreign ministers of Qatar and Indonesia.

Urging for support to "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned" initiatives, the meeting called on the countries "mainly responsible for the current predicament in Afghanistan to earnestly fulfill commitments on the economic recovery and future development of Afghanistan."

Pakistan hosted the first edition of the meeting on Afghanistan last September, followed by Iran the following month.

The initiative began after the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan in August last year and following the meltdown of the US-backed Kabul administration. The Taliban took the control of the country on Aug. 15 and announced its interim government in early September.

The foreign ministers stressed that a peace, stability, and prosperity in Afghanistan would serve the common interests of both the country itself and its neighbors in the region, expressing "readiness to jointly play a constructive role to this end."

China's President Xi Jinping sent a written message to the meeting, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered remarks via video link.

"Afghanistan is in urgent need of development in many areas after having gone through so much in the past," said Xi.

Adding that Afghanistan is a common neighbor and partner of all the countries participating in the meeting, Xi said: "We form a community with a shared future linked by the same mountains and rivers who would rise and fall together."

- Supply of humanitarian aid needed

Expressing deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the foreign ministers urged the international community "to step up emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan."

While appreciating the key role of the UN in doing so, they were particularly addressing UN agencies and relevant members of the UN Security Council in their call for aid.

They extended support to Afghanistan's efforts towards self-generated development, and "undertook to support the economic recovery of Afghanistan at both bilateral and multilateral levels."

The ministers also urged the Taliban-led interim government to take the "necessary continuing steps in Afghanistan on ensuring women's rights and children's education."

- Extending CPEC to Afghanistan

The foreign ministers also reaffirmed their commitment to "deepen cooperation with such frameworks as" China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as regional cooperation organizations.

They also said they would work to include Kabul in the "regional connectivity, energy and transport networks, economic and trade systems, in order to help Afghanistan, unleash its geographical advantages and economic potential."

During a trilateral meeting between China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the three countries "can jointly build the BRI, extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan, and help Afghanistan participate in regional connectivity."

The BRI is a multi-trillion-dollar initiative of China involving an infrastructure development strategy to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations. Beijing launched it in 2013.

At over $50 billion, CPEC is the flagship project of the BRI which runs through Pakistan from north to south to connect China's western Xinjian province to the Arabian Sea in Gwadar port. So far, China has invested over $25 billion in various energy and infrastructure projects under CPEC.

- ISIS/Daesh 'propagated from outside'

The joint statement called on Afghan parties to "take more visible steps to make a clean break with all forms of terrorist forces."

It added that they must monitor the movements of all terror groups and "firmly fight and eliminate them" including by dismantling their training camps, to ensure that Afghanistan will "never again serve as a breeding ground, safe haven or source of proliferation for terrorism."

However, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman of the Afghan Foreign Ministry, said Muttaqi had responded to the concerns related to the ISIS terror group, also known as Daesh, saying it "has been largely eliminated."

"Unfortunately, ISIS is being propagated from outside and a media atmosphere is being created for it," Muttaqi said at the meeting.

The statement stressed that terrorism was a key factor affecting Afghanistan's stability and reiterated that terror groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, "must not be given any place" on Afghan territory."

The top diplomats of China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan announced the launch of a mechanism for regular consultations among their special representatives for Afghanistan to deliberate political and diplomatic, economic and humanitarian, security and stability of the country.