China urges ‘orderly’ foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, on Tuesday at a press conference said: “Foreign troops should withdraw in an orderly and responsible way so that the situation in Afghanistan will experience a steady transition with no security vacuum for terrorist forces to seize upon and expand themselves.”

“China welcomes the signing of this agreement between the US and Taliban, which we believe will play a positive role in promoting a political settlement of the Afghan issue,” said Zhao Lijian, adding that “China firmly supports a broad and inclusive peace and reconciliation process that is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.”

He also said that China hopes that the agreement between the US and the Taliban will enable the seed of peace to take root in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, US peace envoy for Afghanistan ZalmayKhalilzad and Mullah Abdul GhaniBaradar, the co-founder of Taliban, signed the peace agreement at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar following 18 months of negotiations.

There are currently about 13,000 US troops in Afghanistan, which will be reduced to 8,600 within 135 days according to the plan, if conditions are met, say US officials.

On the US troop withdrawal, Lijian said: “Foreign troops should withdraw in an orderly and responsible way so that the situation in Afghanistan will experience a steady transition with no security vacuum for terrorist forces to seize upon and expand.”

China calls on the Taliban and other parties in Afghanistan to act upon this opportunity and launch intra-Afghan negotiations at an early date so that they can together make political and security plans that are acceptable to all and contribute to the realization of enduring peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he said.

“China stands ready to work with the international community and continue to offer our support and assistance to the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan,” he mentioned.

On Monday the US Defense Secretary Mark Esper at a Pentagon news conference said Monday he wasn’t sure if the drawdown had begun, but he said it must start within 10 days of the US-Taliban peace agreement that was signed on Saturday.

“The agreement says that we would reduce down to 8,600 within 135 days, if I recall correctly, and that drawdown would begin in the first 10 days. But I — you know, my instruction to the commander was let’s get moving; let’s show our full faith and effort to do that,” Esper said.

“As you know, I’ve said on many occasions that I’m comfortable we can still conduct all the missions we need to conduct at 8,600,” he said.

Also on Monday, the Taliban issued a statement to its troops to resume offensive operations against Afghan security forces, but spare US forces.(TOLOnews)