China is willing to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan and help organise a meeting in order for the countries to improve their relations, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is the first time that China wants to be a mediator in Afghanistan’s peace process and soon the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Kabul. Peace with Pakistan was our demand and this must be solved between government and government,” an Afghan media outlet quoted the Afghan present as saying.
The Chinese foreign minister will work to discuss the possibility of organising a meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China, the statement added.
Ghani made these comments while he was chairing a meeting with women’s right activists on the overall security situation in the country.
In the meantime, Najibullah Azad deputy spokesman for Ghani told the media: “This time the quadrilateral meeting—which will be held between Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China—would be different compared to past meetings. At this meeting, Pakistan must support Afghanistan’s policy over fighting insurgency.”
He also claimed that Kabul recently gathered evidence showing that Pakistan is “supporting insurgency” and shared this with NATO, the US Congress and other organisations.
“When needed, the evidence will also be provided to the UN,” Azad told the media.
Meanwhile, Wang’s trip to Kabul comes in the wake of a spate of deadly attacks in the country.
Pakistan’s ties with Afghanistan were severed when a deadly blast in Kabul on May 31 killed 150 people, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the Afghan capital since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001
The Afghan intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security had said the Kabul attack was planned by Haqqani network in Pakistan. Following the allegations, top military commanders took exception to what they called “unwarranted accusations and threats against Pakistan” in the wake of the recent upsurge in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, urging Kabul to look inward to find answers to the current mess in the war-torn country.
