China urges world community to support all parties to open new chapter in Afghanistan

Beijing: The international community should encourage and support solidarity and cooperation of all parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan to open a new chapter in the Afghan history, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

The process of peace and reconstruction is hard to go off smoothly since many contradictions have built up in Afghanistan and difficult problems have been left by the US.

In this process, the international community should encourage and support solidarity and cooperation of all parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan to open a new chapter in the Afghan history, Hua Chunying said during her regular briefing held here.

On maintaining contact and communication with the Afghan Taliban and other, parties, she said that the Chinese side is maintaining communication on the basis of full respect for the sovereignty of Afghanistan and the will of all parities.

After major changes took place in Afghanistan recently, the leaders and the spokesperson of the Afghan Taliban have said publicly through different channels that the Afghan Taliban would resolve problems the people face, meet people’s aspirations and stay committed to forming an open and inclusive Islamic government, she added.

Hua Chunying said that the Chinese side takes note of these positive statements and signals.

Drawing attention towards statements of Afghan leaders and spokesperson, she said that they said that Afghan Taliban works toward equality and elimination of discrimination, and announced that former government staffs would be pardoned and women’s rights and interests would be protected, including freedom of speech, employment and access to education.

They also said that the Afghan Taliban would act responsibly to protect the security of Afghans and foreign missions in Afghanistan, build good relations with all countries and never allow anyone to use the Afghan territory to threaten other countries, she added.

Hua Chunying said that the Chinese side has also noticed that some political figures of Russia and other countries and many international media have recognized Afghan Taliban’s behaviors after it entered Kabul, believing that they have been good, positive and pragmatic actions.

Although the Afghan situation is not fully clear yet, they believe the Afghan Taliban will not repeat history, and the Afghan Taliban today is more clear-headed and rational than it was in power last time, she added.

We encourage and hope the Afghan Taliban can follow through its positive statements, unite with all parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, establish an broadly-based, inclusive political framework that fits the national conditions and wins public support through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible, and adopt moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, she added.

She hoped that the Afghan Taliban can contain all kinds of terrorist and criminal acts and ensure a smooth transition of the situation in Afghanistan to take the long-suffering Afghans away from wars and chaos as soon as possible and build lasting peace.

Hua Chunying said that she noticed that some people have been saying they don’t trust the Afghan Taliban. I want to say that nothing stays unchanged. When understanding and handling problems, we should adopt a holistic, interconnected and developmental dialectical approach.

She said, We should look at both the past and the present. We need to not only listen to what they say, but also look at what they do. If we do not keep pace with the times, but stick to fixed mindset and ignore the development of the situation, we will never reach a conclusion that is in line with reality.

In fact, the rapid evolution of the situation in Afghanistan also reveals how the outside world lacked objective judgment on the local situation and accurate understanding of the public opinion there. In this respect, some western countries in particular should learn some lessons, she concluded.