President Xi Jinping Promises More Help, Calls On Taliban To Fight Terrorism

President of China Xi Jinping. (Wikimedia Commons/Palácio do Planalto)

JAKARTA - Chinese President Xi Jinping urged relevant parties in Afghanistan to eradicate terrorism, pledging to provide more assistance to the war-torn country, the Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

China shares a land border with Afghanistan, where the Taliban appointed a new government this month. The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August when US-led foreign forces ended their 20-year presence there.

Afghanistan should be guided to become more open and inclusive, pursuing moderate domestic and foreign policies, President Xi said at a meeting of leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and other regional groups, the agency said in a report.

"Certain countries should bear their responsibility for Afghanistan's future development as the instigator of the situation," President Xi Jinping said, citing Reuters September 17.

Experts say the Afghan economy is in crisis and overshadowed by a humanitarian catastrophe. Western countries are reluctant to provide funds to the Taliban without guarantees that they will uphold human rights, especially women.

China, which has pledged aid and doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan, says the United States and its allies have an obligation to supply the war-torn country with economic and humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, China is also known to be concerned about militants from the far western region of Xinjiang, some of whom are based in Afghanistan, where they have long been Taliban allies.

For information, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SC0) consists of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has the status of an observer state.