China Calls for Respect to Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity of Afghanistan

After President Donald Trump has given his Secretary of Defense the authority to make decision about the troop levels in Afghanistan, the Chinese government called for respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan by any party.

“Peace and stability of Afghanistan bears on the regional security and development. We maintain that any action by any party should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and should be conducive to the peaceful reconciliation process and peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan as well as the regional peace, stability and development,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang during a press conference.

Lu Kang emphasized Beijing is committed to peace and stability in Afghanistan and stressed on joint fight against terrorism.

” the Chinese side has all along supported the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peaceful reconciliation process and the peace process of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we hope that the relevant regional countries can strengthen solidarity and cooperation, jointly combat terrorism, work for regional peace and stability, and create enabling conditions for common development and prosperity of the region,” Lu Kang added.

Meanwhile, Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO says Afghanistan war has a solution through political with military support.

“I think there is a logic to providing the Pentagon, some flexibility. It gives them more agility to fit the number troops to the task in Afghanistan and that all make sense. it does however raise one concern and that is the strategy is made up of a lot more than just the Pentagon peace and how the administration intends to make sure that the other pieces, the political side of the occasion, the diplomatic the intelligent how are these fit together in a hole?,” Douglas Lute, U.S. ambassador to NATO said.

The U.S. former official noted Washington has bigger interest in Pakistan compared to putting pressure on Islamabad to fight against the Afghan Taliban.

“We actually have several interest in Pakistan which I think surpassed our interest in dealing with the Afghan Taliban. The very dangerous cocktail of terrorists, extremists and nuclear weapons is probably more of a vital national interest to us than Pakistan support for the Afghan Taliban,” Lute added.

There are currently about 8,400 US troops devoted to Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan, which encompasses both US counter terrorism forces to fight ISIS and the Taliban as well as the effort to train, advise and assist Afghan forces in a separate effort.

By: Muhammad ZackArya