Chinese Foreign Ministry Confirms Sunday Meeting With Taliban Delegation

A delegation from the Taliban has recently visited China for talks, Geng Shuang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Monday

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2019) A delegation from the Taliban has recently visited China for talks, Geng Shuang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Monday.

Earlier, Suhail Shaheen, the official spokesman of Taliban's political office in Qatar, tweeted that nine Taliban members, including the Qatar political office's chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had talks with Chinese Special Envoy for Afghanistan Affairs Deng Xijun in China on Sunday.

"The Chinese side considers the situation in Afghanistan to be very important, does everything to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan, maintains constant contact with all sides involved. The head of the Taliban's diplomatic office in Doha, Baradar, and a few of his aides have recently been in China to make contacts," Geng confirmed.

He specified that the special envoy and the Afghan delegation had exchanged opinions on the peace process in Afghanistan.

"We hope that the United States, the Taliban and the Afghan side will maintain negotiations and achieve peace and stability as quickly as possible," Geng added.

The US and the Taliban have for nearly a year been attempting to negotiate a peace deal that would ensure the withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for the movement's guarantee that the country will not become a safe heaven for terrorists. The talks, however, excluded the Afghan government as the Taliban considers it a US puppet. The last round of talks in Doha finished on September 1. Khalilzad said that Washington and the Taliban were "at the threshold of an agreement."

On September 7, following an explosion in Kabul, Trump said via Twitter that he canceled plans to hold secret Camp David talks with the Taliban leadership and Afghan leaders on September 8.