China lobbies Russia, Iran and Pakistan to show unity on Afghanistan
- Beijing seeks at four-nation meeting to strengthen coordination to prevent chaos, curb terrorism and rebuild peace
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov both blame Washington for the situation in the Central Asian country
Xi said the international community had to let different people in Afghanistan fully take the fate of their nation in their own hands, based on respecting the country’s sovereignty and territory.
“We should start interaction with different parties in Afghanistan, and guide the new regime of the nation to be more open and inclusive,” Xi said.
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Without naming the US, Xi said nations that had caused the chaos should learn a lesson and “share responsibility for the future of Afghanistan”, according to state-run Xinhua.
Xi also asked Afghanistan to crack down on terror groups, eliminating them at their roots and preventing them posing a threat to other nations.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and counterparts from Russia, Iran and Pakistan had met on Thursday to make final preparations for Friday’s leadership meeting of the eight-member SCO, with Afghanistan expected to dominate its agenda.
Wang said it was necessary for the four countries to “strengthen communication and coordination, form unanimous voices, exert positive influence and play a constructive role in stabilising the situation in Afghanistan”.
He described the situation in Afghanistan as “standing at a critical juncture of bringing order to chaos” and said regional countries’ three main expectations from the new Afghan government were inclusiveness, opposing terrorism and good neighbourliness.
To achieve these goals, Wang said the four countries should rally international support to pile pressure on the US, urging Washington to “take the primary responsibility for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian assistance”.
The four should take the lead in providing assistance and guidance for the Afghan interim government to ensure the implementation of “moderate and stable internal and external policies” and “build a political foundation for long-term stability”, Wang said.
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“The Taliban has repeatedly promised not to allow any forces to use Afghan territory to harm the security interests of neighbouring countries,” he said. “We expect the new Afghan regime to fulfil its commitments and draw a clear line between [itself and] terrorist forces, and in particular resolutely crack down on terrorist forces targeting neighbouring countries.”
Beijing has over the years used the SCO – established just before the US became involved in Afghanistan 20 years ago – to boost its influence in Central Asia and combat what it calls “three evil forces” of terrorism, extremism and separatism.
“China is willing to strengthen coordination with Russia, Pakistan, Iran and other countries in the region to play a constructive role in preventing chaos, maintaining stability, curbing terrorism and violence, and rebuilding peace in Afghanistan,” Wang said.
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Washington and its allies have long voiced grave concerns about the emergence of an authoritarian anti-US alliance among Beijing, Moscow and Tehran. Pakistan, a US ally in the Cold War, has been accused of duplicity in the Afghan conflict with its support for the Taliban.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said in his opening remarks at the four-nation meeting that Afghanistan’s neighbours “can make a difference in the region and help the Afghan people find a way out of their crisis, which was created after 20 years of war initiated by the United States and Nato”.
“If we act in good faith, we can make a difference in creating the necessary external conditions for the Afghans to independently decide their own fate, without posing a threat to neighbouring countries [from terrorism to drug trafficking],” he said, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
Founded in 2001, the SCO consisted of China, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan before India and Pakistan joined the group in 2017.
Iran, which became an SCO observer in 2005, has said it wants to be granted full membership at the Dushanbe summit. Afghanistan also holds observer status, but Lavrov said on Wednesday that the Taliban had not been invited to observe proceedings in Dushanbe.
“Nobody is hurrying to give full recognition to the Taliban,” Lavrov said.
