China will send at least $31 million in emergency aid to Afghanistan, including three million Covid-19 vaccine doses, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday. He made the announcement at a virtual meeting with his counterparts from Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
The package also covers grain, winter supplies and medicine. The timing is close: the Taliban had announced an interim cabinet the day before, with the country declared an “Islamic Emirate”. The new government includes officials on a wanted list compiled by the United States.
Wang told the meeting that Afghanistan is “standing at the crossroads”, according to Xinhua. Xinhua also quoted him saying that “some international forces may also use political, economic and financial means to create new troubles for Afghanistan,” without naming them. China shares a land border with the country. Beyond aid, he said, Beijing can help keep Afghan ports open, assist with refugees and migrants, and deepen anti-terrorism and anti-narcotics cooperation.
Pressure on Washington
Wang put much of the responsibility on the United States. “The end of military intervention by the United States and its allies should be the beginning of them assuming their responsibilities,” he said. They are “more obligated than any other country” to provide economic, livelihood and humanitarian help, he added.
Beijing’s criticism of the US withdrawal has been blunt. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said what the US did in Afghanistan over two decades is “a textbook example which shows us the consequences of wanton military intervention and attempts to impose one’s own ideology and values on others.” A state official went further, saying American forces inflicted “serious damage on the Afghan people from the very first day of its invasion to the last minute of its withdrawal”.
US President Joe Biden has said the country is still a “long way off” from recognizing the Taliban government.
What China wants in return
Wang urged the Taliban to cut ties with all “extreme forces” and crack down on them. He called on all parties to share intelligence and tighten border control “to catch and eliminate terrorist groups that have sneaked in from Afghanistan.”
China had welcomed the end of “three weeks of anarchy” and said it “attaches great importance” to the formation of the interim government. It called the new government a “necessary step to restore order” and said it was ready to keep up communication with the Taliban.
Contact predates the takeover. Beijing invited Taliban representatives for talks in July, offering economic support while insisting Afghanistan must not become a staging point for terrorists. In recent days the Taliban has called China its “main partner” in rebuilding the country, and Taliban officials have pinned hopes on Chinese investment. Selling the relationship at home is harder: some of the Chinese public are repulsed by the Taliban.
Sources
- China extends $31m in emergency aid to Afghanistan
- China offers $31 million in emergency aid to Afghanistan
Sources
- China extends $31m in emergency aid to Afghanistan | Al Jazeera
- China offers $31 million in emergency aid to Afghanistan
