Taliban govt to receive food and vaccines worth $31m from China

As a part of mending relation with the neighboring country, China has announced to donate aid, including food and coronavirus vaccines, worth $31 million to Afghanistan.

The development came after the Taliban declared to form a temporary government.

In a meeting with counterparts from Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the donation.

China would work with countries in the district to help Afghanistan reconstruct its economy and society, as well as fight terrorist groups and illegal drug trade, stated Wang.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China was ready to conserve communication with Kabul and the Taliban declaration of an interim government was “a necessary step”, but the Taliban should attend to diverse views domestically and internationally.

“The Chinese side attaches great importance to the Afghan Taliban’s announcement of an interim government,” he said.

Wang stated, “This is a necessary step in restoring domestic order and moving towards post-war reconstruction.”

He said China was “willing to maintain communication with the new Afghan government”, and reiterated that Beijing’s call for the Taliban to cut ties with all terrorist groups, particularly the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which China says is behind past attacks in its western region of Xinjiang.

“We hope the new Afghan regime during the period of the interim government will listen to the opinions of all ethnic groups and factions in Afghanistan and respond to the hopes of its people and the international community,” he said.

Whereas, The Taliban has announced that the provisional government will be led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, one of the Taliban’s founders.

The interior minister will be Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the militant Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network.

On the contrary, China is among the first major powers to launch contact with the Taliban after it swept through Afghanistan and deposed the government following last month’s extraction of US troops.

The Chinese embassy in Kabul remains open, and its top emissary to the country has met senior Taliban officials.

Previously, Chinese assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao has had a telephone call with Abdul Salam Hanafi, deputy director of the Taliban’s office in Qatar.

The militant group had guaranteed to form a comprehensive Afghanistan government among the standards that could gain the international acknowledgment it needs to avert an economic meltdown and food crisis.