Afghan Foreign Minister’s China trip is a chance for peace talks
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani is in Beijing on a four-day trip as China steps up efforts to use its limited influence to broker peace talks in Kabul.
Rabbani’s arrival in the Chinese capital on Sunday follows a trip last week to Kabul by Deng Xijun, Beijing’s special envoy on Afghan affairs, to take part in a Quadrilateral Coordination Group meeting.
The group, which also includes representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States, is urging Taliban militants to negotiate an end to Afghanistan’s 15-year civil war.
Rabbani will hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) today on economic, security and cultural affairs.
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Du Youkang, a professor of South Asia studies at Fudan University, said the talks with Rabbani would be a chance for China and the Afghan government to work out ways to get the Taliban to the negotiating table.
China has strengthened political and economic ties with Afghanistan since 2014, the pre-set deadline for US troops to pull out of the country. Beijing has also had contact with Taliban representatives.