China seeks military presence in Afghanistan

KABUL (Agencies): Afghan military analysts told Ariana News that China is considering some sort of military presence in Afghanistan once US and NATO ally forces withdraw. According to the analysts China is concerned about security in Afghanistan after coalition forces pull out.

“Any kind of agreement with China must be shared with Afghans and must be transparent,” said Asadullah Nadim, a military analyst. Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said recently that an environment should be provided for the Afghan peace process to succeed. “The unilateral withdrawal of US forces at an important time in Afghanistan’s internal reconciliation process has created uncertainty about the situation in Afghanistan,” said Wang.

This comes after Afghan officials said that Afghanistan and China agreed on expanding security cooperation between the two countries. According to the Afghan officials, terrorism is a joint threat to Afghanistan and China and must be addressed together. “We always have cooperation with Beijing, and it does not mean there would be a big change in the region,” said Haneef Atmar, the Afghan foreign minister. “Both countries consider terrorism a joint threat and emphasized they would fight it together,” said Rahmatullah Andar, spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC).