Beijing nudged Taliban towards peace: envoy

ISLAMABAD: A top Chinese diplomat has informed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that his country has always urged the Taliban to enter into political negotiations with the Kabul administration.

Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan Deng Xijun met President Ghani in Kabul on Sunday, weeks after Kabul criticised the trilateral grouping of China, Pakistan and Russia for not inviting the country to the Moscow meeting, Ghani’s office has said.



The three-nation grouping had showed concerns at the ‘deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan’ and called for ‘reintegration of the armed opposition into peaceful life’.

“We have encouraged the Taliban during our contacts with them to join the dialogue. We have also urged Pakistan to start the quadrilateral process,” Ghani’s office quoted the Chinese envoy as saying.



“China has always conveyed to the Taliban during meetings that it recognises the Afghan government and the president and that talks are the only option for them,” Xijun said, according to a statement posted online. He said the Afghan government has always tried to resolve problems through dialogue and progress in talks with Hizb-e-Islami indicates the Afghan government has the capacity, adding that the Taliban will hopefully understand this path.

He said the Taliban policies have paved the way for activities of other terrorist groups who pose threats to the security of China and other regional countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2017.