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Positive thing, says US Secretary of State Blinken on China's talks with Taliban

WION Web Team
New DelhiUpdated: Jul 29, 2021, 04:17 PM IST
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File photo Photograph:(Reuters)

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Taliban has been sweeping districts in the rural areas in Afghanistan amid heavy fighting with government troops for the past two months.

As Taliban representatives met Chinese officials, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China's involvement towards "peaceful resolution of the conflict" and "truly representative and inclusive" was a "positive thing".

Blinken during this visit to India had said that "an Afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people would become a pariah state," referring to the Taliban.

The Taliban delegation in China had assured the Xi regime that Afghanistan's soil won't be used as a base to launch attacks against other countries in the region.

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The militant group has been sweeping through territories in the rural areas and the provinces for the last two months amid heavy fighting with the Afghan government troops.

The group leaders had met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi who said that the Taliban is expected to "play an important role in the process of peaceful reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan."

Afghanistan shares a 76-kilometre border with China even as Afganistan President Ashraf Ghani said that the country was facing an "invasion that is unprecedented in the last 30 years".

"The Taliban says that it seeks international recognition, that it wants international support for Afghanistan. Presumably, it wants its leaders to be able to travel freely in the world, sanctions lifted," Blinken said.

"The taking over of the country by force and abusing the rights of its people is not the path to achieve those objectives," the US secretary of state asserted.

Blinken said no one is interested in the military takeover of Afghanistan even as the militant group continues to surge through various districts in the country.

The development comes as Russia said it will conduct military exercises with Tajikistan along the Afghan border and bolster its defence forces.

(With inputs from Agencies)