Secularism is a Women’s IssueHome > Uncategorised > US and China to recognize Taliban government
US and China to recognize Taliban government
Monday 16 August 2021, by
US to recognise Taliban only if they respect basic rights, says Blinken
Anwar Iqbal
Published August 16, 2021 - Updated about 16 hours ago
Photo: HANOVER: A transport aircraft of Bundeswehr, the German air force, taxis across the runway at an air base. The Bundeswehr plans to begin evacuating German citizens from Kabul on Monday.—AP
WASINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the United States will only recognise a future government in Afghanistan if it upholds basic rights of its people and keeps terrorists out of the country.
Asked to comment on media reports that China was ready to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government, Secretary Blinken said: “A future Afghan government that upholds the basic rights of its people and that doesn’t harbor terrorists is a government we can work with and recognise.”
Conversely, he added, “a government that doesn’t uphold the basic rights of its people, including women and girls; that harbors terrorist groups that have designs on the United States or allies and partners — certainly, that’s not going to happen.”
The top American diplomat appeared on a number of US television channels on Sunday to comment on the developments in Afghanistan where Taliban insurgents have entered Kabul, forcing President Ashraf Ghani to seek refuge in Tajikistan.
Read: ’Taliban have won’: Ashraf Ghani says fled Afghanistan to prevent bloodshed
He warned that international assistance to a Taliban-led government in Kabul “will not be forthcoming, sanctions will not be lifted and their ability to travel won’t happen” if they did not respect basic rights and did not stop harboring terrorists.
When the interviewer argued that his statement sounded like a no to recognition, Mr Blinken said: “It’s incumbent on the international community, including the United States, to do everything we can using every tool that we have — economic, diplomatic, political — to ensure (those) rights are sustained.”
He also emphasised the need to ensure that “if the Taliban does not do that … it clearly faces the penalties for not upholding those rights,” adding “We will do everything we can to make sure that’s the case.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper reminded Mr Blinken that in a recent statement, US President Joe Biden had insisted that the Kabul government would not fall and asked him how the president could “get this so wrong.”
The secretary argued that the US had accomplished its goals in Afghanistan, by dealing with the folks who attacked us on 9/11, eliminating Osama bin Laden in 2011 and diminishing the threat from Al Qaeda and now was the time to leave.
Quoting a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Ryan Crocker, that the withdrawal of US troops was “a handover to the Taliban” that left the Afghan people “hung… out to dry,” the journalist asked: “Does President Biden not bear the blame for this disastrous exit from Afghanistan?”
Mr Blinken replied, “We have said all along, including the president, that the Taliban was at its greatest position of strength at any time since 2001 when it was last in charge of [Afghanistan].
That is the Taliban that we inherited. And so, we saw that they are very much capable of going on the offensive and beginning to take back the country.”
He pointed out that the US spent billions of dollars, “building a modern military with sophisticated equipment, 300,000 forces strong, with an air force that the Taliban didn’t have. And the fact of the matter is, we have seen that that force has been unable to defend the country.”
Secretary Blinken also rejected the suggestion that sending American troops to evacuate US Embassy staff and other Americans resembled the hasty US evacuation from Vietnam.
“Remember, this is not Saigon,” he said. “We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with one mission. And that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11. And we have succeeded in that mission.”
Published in Dawn, August 16h, 2021
°
China says ready for ’friendly relations’ with Taliban after Kabul takeover
AFP
Published August 16, 2021 - Updated about 7 hours ago
Photo: A Chinese paramilitary police stands guard outside the Afghanistan embassy in Beijing, China on August 16. — AFP
China is ready to deepen “friendly and cooperative” relations with Afghanistan, a government spokeswoman said on Monday, after the Taliban seized control of the country.
Beijing has sought to maintain unofficial ties with the Taliban throughout the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, which spurred an advance by the hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan’s reconstruction.
On Monday, China said it “welcomed” the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan, a country that has for generations been coveted for its geo-strategic importance by bigger powers.
“The Taliban have repeatedly expressed their hope to develop good relations with China, and that they look forward to China’s participation in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
“We welcome this. China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop ... friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan.”
Hua called on the Taliban to “ensure a smooth transition” of power and keep its promises to negotiate the establishment of an “open and inclusive Islamic government” and ensure the safety of Afghans and foreign citizens.
China’s embassy in Kabul remains operational, Hua said, although Beijing began evacuating Chinese citizens from the country months ago amid the deteriorating security situation.
In a statement on Monday, the embassy told Chinese citizens remaining in Afghanistan to “pay close attention to the security situation” and stay indoors.
US President Joe Biden promised a complete withdrawal of US troops by September 11, marking an end to two decades of war.
But Washington was left shocked by the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s sweeping advance.
China has repeatedly criticised what it sees as the US’ hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan as a failure of leadership.
Stability and business
The Taliban’s takeover opens a strategic door to China laden with both risk and opportunity.
Maintaining stability after decades of war in its western neighbour will be Beijing’s main consideration, as it seeks to secure its borders and strategic infrastructure investments in Pakistan.
For Beijing, a stable and cooperative administration in Kabul would pave the way for an expansion of its Belt and Road Initiative into Afghanistan and through the Central Asian republics, analysts say.
The Taliban meanwhile may consider China a crucial source of investment and economic support.
China has so far stopped short of officially recognising the Taliban as the new leaders of Afghanistan, but Wang Yi called them a “decisive military and political force” during last month’s meeting in Tianjin.
