China today announced that it is ready to develop “friendly relations” with the Taliban after the armed group seize control of Afghanistan.
“China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
After taking control of Kabul, victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the streets of Kabul on Monday as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of rule. Meanwhile, many nations were scrambling to evacuate their diplomats, citizens and some local Afghan staff.
The airport has been the real crisis point of the roll-in of the Taliban.
Mohammad Naeem, a spokesman for Taliban’s political office said the group does not want to live in isolation and says the type and form of the new government in Afghanistan will be made clear soon. He also calls for peaceful international relations, reports Al-Jazeera.
The United Nations Security Council will discuss the situation in Afghanistan later on Monday.
Taliban takeover is world’s failure: UK
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan is a “failure of the international community”, Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says, assessing that the West’s intervention was a job only half-done.
All of us know that Afghanistan is not finished. It’s an unfinished problem for the world and the world needs to help it.
Flow of commodities to and from Pakistan disrupted
The Pakistan-Afghanistan border, says the Taliban has taken over the border creating a disruption in the flow of cargo traffic to Pakistan.
“This is a major logistical supply line to Afghanistan. This morning we have been seeing Afghan trucks laden with cucumber, grapes and melons being crossing into Pakistan,” he says.
“However, on the Pakistan side, the traffic that is supposed to be moving into Afghanistan, carrying meat, poultry and other commodities is stuck here because of the backlog and a border closure yesterday.”
