China’s Foreign Ministry said today that it expects the Afghan Taliban to keep to their promise, made to Foreign Minister Wang Yi in July, to form an “inclusive government.” Global Times reported that Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said “China hopes that the Taliban can implement its previous commitments and ensure a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan.” She said, it respects the Afghan people’s right to decide its own destiny, and will “continue to develop friendship and cooperation with Afghanistan.” Hua said the lack of serious military battles in the Taliban advance to power showed that a truce and peaceful transfer of power is “both the unanimous voice of more than 30 million Afghan people and the common expectation of the international community and regional countries, after more than 40 years of warfare.”
China’s embassy in Kabul continued normal operations, as did those of the Central Asian republics, which were otherwise taciturn about the Taliban’s apparent takeover. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan both reported that Afghan government soldiers and airmen, in many cases with their planes, crossing or trying to cross into their countries. They have closed their borders with Afghanistan temporarily, as has Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan declared that Afghans “have broken the shackles of slavery.”
