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China’s Wang says Afghans ‘can control own destiny’ post withdrawal
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said this week that while the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan will bring some uncertainties, the move will give the Afghan people the chance to control their own future.
Following a video dialogue on Thursday with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts, Wang said troops withdrawal will give Afghans an opportunity “to truly control their own destiny.”
According to China’s official readout after the trio’s discussion, Wang said: “The three sides agreed to deepen the cooperation in BRI (Belt and Road Initiative), supporting the substantial expansion of it to Afghanistan, and enhance the level of interconnection between the three countries.”
The three parties also agreed to create a strong dialogue mechanism between the respective foreign ministers, with China calling to add dialogue between their envoys to discuss peace talks in Afghanistan and specific steps to be taken.
According to the South China Morning Post, Beijing fears the withdrawal will lead to a potential resurgence of terrorism in the country, which would pose security risks to its predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region bordering Afghanistan and threaten its belt and road projects in the region.
China has sought to strengthen cooperation with Central Asian states on security to manage any potential spillover of turmoil from Afghanistan. During a meeting with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan last month, Beijing said they should jointly crack down on terrorists and prevent transnational crime.
However, the post reported that Zhu Yongbiao, a professor of international relations at Lanzhou University, said the expansion of belt and road projects to Afghanistan could face multiple challenges.
“First, it will face security risks due to the instability there. Besides, investment of Chinese enterprises may also fail due to the lack of understanding of Afghan culture and society. Moreover, China will be highly likely to face international accusations such as the ‘debt trap’,” Zhu said.
“Looking from China’s recent official statement, it is likely to be more active in Afghanistan from now on than in the past, which means China’s influence in the country will be expanded.
“But it does not necessarily reduce the influence of the US, because the stance of China and the US on Afghanistan is not conflicting. Instead, they share common interests in improving the self-development capacity of Afghanistan,” he said.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Islamic Emirate’s Foreign Minister, met with Gholamreza Nouri Ghezeljeh, Iran’s Minister of Agriculture Jihad, in Kabul on Thursday.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said the two sides held comprehensive discussions on bilateral relations, expanding economic and transit cooperation, and holding the seventh meeting of the Joint Economic Commission between the two countries.
Muttaqi welcomed the progress in practical economic and transit cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran, saying there are further opportunities to expand bilateral ties.
Iran’s agriculture minister also stressed the importance of making use of existing opportunities for cooperation in various sectors and called for expanding current areas of cooperation.
Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has unveiled a new visa card and HesabPay mobile application as part of efforts to expand digital financial services in Afghanistan.
The new products were introduced at an event in Kabul on Thursday, where Ahmad Shahpoor Mia Khail, the bank’s deputy governor for supervision, urged Afghans to use digital cards for payments and cash withdrawals.
Mia Khail said improving public trust and providing better financial services remain among the bank’s priorities, describing the digitization of the financial system as a key step toward electronic transactions.
“Our sole objective is to enable every Afghan to make payments using a card, mobile phone or other means,” he said.
Officials from several companies said around one million active customers in Afghanistan currently use HesabPay services, adding that they are committed to expanding access to financial services.
Ahmad Khalid Wadan, the owner of one of the companies, said the initiative aims to help build “a strong, secure and reliable digital financial system” in Afghanistan.
Da Afghanistan Bank has repeatedly called for the digitization of monetary and commercial transactions, saying it can improve transparency and efficiency and help expand economic activity.
Human Rights Watch in a statement on Wednesday called for the release of two UN staffers and six NGO workers in Afghanistan.
HRW said that six male staff working with the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) had been “forcibly disappeared” from the NGO’s Kabul office last month. The NGO has been involved in aid programmes and advocacy on women’s and children’s rights, HRW said.
In a separate incident, Human Rights Watch also called for the release of two Afghan staff members of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), who were detained by IEA officials in the western city of Herat on Sunday.
The IEA’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Reuters that he was “trying to gather details” about the recent detentions, but had “not received final clarity.”
The UN confirmed the detention of two of its staffers earlier this week. “UNAMA has not been informed of the charges against them and has not been permitted to visit them,” Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said in a briefing on Wednesday.
Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the detentions of UNAMA staff threatened the UN’s “ability to deliver lifesaving aid.”
As the UN’s political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA is involved in human rights monitoring and data gathering. Its reports have frequently been criticised by the IEA government in the past.
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