Taliban invites China to rebuild Afghanistan

Days after seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has invited China to contribute towards rebuilding the country.

In a conversation with Chinese state media, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said China’s strong economy can play a vital role in the rebuilding, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan.

“China is a big country with a huge economy and capacity – I think they can play a very big role in the rebuilding, rehabilitation, reconstruction of Afghanistan,” Shaheen told CGTN TV, as reported by Reuters.

In July, the Taliban, sure of its imminent takeover of power due to the withdrawal of US troops, had invited China as a “friend” to Afghanistan and hoped to discuss with Beijing ideas about investments and reconstruction work in Afghanistan.

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China is one of the few countries which have recognised the terror outfit and unlike United States and Russia, has the unique distinction of not having any history of war with the Taliban.

In a meeting with a delegation of Taliban leaders on July 28, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi had recognised the group as “an important military and political force in Afghanistan” while stressing that the future of Afghan people should be in the hands of its own people.

“The hasty withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from Afghanistan actually marks the failure of the US policy towards Afghanistan. The Afghan people now have an important opportunity to achieve national stability and development,” he was quoted as saying.

The minister, however, had hoped that the Taliban would adopt a moderate Islamist policy. Terming religious extremism as a destabilizing force in its own western Xinjiang region, China has also raised the question if a Taliban-ruled country would be used to encourage separatism.

On Sunday, Taliban fighters stormed into Kabul in an invasion that triggered a mad scramble among Afghans to leave the country. With the fall of the Ashraf Ghani-led representative government, many fear the Taliban takeover would mark of the beginning of another atrocious era of Islamic rule.