Chain says waiting before recognizing government – KIRO 7 News Seattle

KABUL, Afghanistan – (AP) – BEIJING – China says it is waiting for an “open, inclusive and broadly representative” government to be formed in Afghanistan before deciding on recognition.

“If we want to recognize a government, we have to wait until the government is formed,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday.

“Only then will we come to the question of diplomatic recognition,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing.

Zhao reiterated Beijing’s hopes for a “smooth transition” after the Taliban came to power to avoid further violence or a humanitarian catastrophe.

“China will continue to support the peaceful reconstruction of Afghanistan and support the economic and social development of Afghanistan within the scope of its possibilities,” said Zhao.

The Taliban must honor their pledge not to shelter terrorists or to allow foreign elements to operate on their territory with Afghanistan.

Beijing has long urged the US to leave Afghanistan, but condemned the “hasty” withdrawal of American forces due to the current instability.

China has sought good relations with both the former Afghan government and the Taliban, and invited the group’s top political leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to meet with Foreign Minister Wang Yi late last month.

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MORE ABOUT THE CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN:

– Taliban announce “amnesty” and call on women to join the government

– Taliban encounter Afghan cities that have been redesigned in their absence

– US authorities clean up websites to protect abandoned Afghans

– Taliban take over Afghanistan: what we know and what’s next

– Biden: Afghan chaos “heartbreaking”, but is ready to withdraw

– Billions spent on the Afghan army ultimately went to the Taliban. benefit

– For more AP coverage, please visit https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan

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HERE STILL HAPPEN:

MADRID – The European Union’s top diplomat says it is necessary to speak to the Taliban to ensure the evacuation of foreign nationals and Afghans who have worked with NATO forces.

“I said we had to speak to them and some people thought it was scandalous,” Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Spanish national radio on Wednesday. “But how are we supposed to open a safe passage to the airport if we don’t talk to those who have taken control of Kabul?”

Borrell said his main concern was the immediate situation of those in need of help to leave the country immediately for fear of reprisals.

“We saw pictures of crowds on the runways that make the airport difficult to operate. We hope the situation can be controlled and our planes can land and take off, but honestly I don’t know, ”said Borrell. “Where we have to act is not so much about the airport itself, which the American Army controls, but how we get those who have to leave to the airport.”

“My responsibility is to identify and support those who have worked with us,” said Borrell. “(But) that does not preclude the EU from opening its arms to other people.”

“What happened in Afghanistan is a defeat for the entire western world and we must all have the courage to accept it,” he said.

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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan issues visas upon arrival to all diplomats, foreigners and journalists wishing to leave Kabul for security reasons.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday that since Sunday 900 foreigners, including diplomats and employees of international organizations, had come from Kabul to Pakistan by plane.

He said that foreigners arriving from Afghanistan would be issued transit visas at airports and land crossings so they could travel on to their home countries.

Ahmed said hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans had entered Pakistan from two major land border crossings in the past few days.

He said that all Pakistanis who want to leave Afghanistan will be returned in the next two days.

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BERLIN – Germany will send up to 600 military personnel to Kabul to help evacuate German citizens and former Afghan local embassy staff.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet approved the mission on Wednesday, which began on Monday. The German Bundestag also has to vote on the military operation, which is expected to take place next week.

Every armed foreign deployment of the Bundeswehr must be approved by parliament in Germany.

Normally this has to be done before the start of the operation, but in this case the cabinet and parliament were allowed to approve the operation afterwards because of the impending danger that German citizens were exposed to in Afghanistan, reported the German news agency dpa.

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KABUL, Afghanistan – The Afghan central bank governor says the country has about $ 9 billion in reserves abroad and not in cash in the country.

Ajmal Ahmady, the head of the Afghan central bank, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that the bulk of it – about $ 7 billion – is held in US Federal Reserve bonds, assets and gold.

Ahmady says Afghanistan’s physical possession of US dollars is “close to zero” as the country did not receive a scheduled cash shipment during the Taliban offensive that struck the country last week.

“The next delivery never arrived,” he wrote. “It seems our partners have good information about what is going to happen.”

He pointed out that the shortage of US dollars is likely to lead to a devaluation of the afghanis and an increase in inflation, harming the poor in the country. Access to these reserves is likely made more difficult by the US government viewing the Taliban as a sanctioned terrorist group.

The “Taliban won militarily – but must rule now,” he wrote. “It is not easy.”

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LONDON – The UK government says it will take in up to 5,000 Afghan refugees this year and a total of 20,000 Afghans will be offered an opportunity to settle in the UK over the coming years.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said late Tuesday: “We are indebted to all of those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the past 20 years.”

The new resettlement program for Afghan citizens will focus on women, children and others who have been forced to flee their homes or who are at risk of persecution by the Taliban.

Opposition parties criticize the plan for not going far enough to really make a difference. Labor Party’s Nick Thomas-Symonds said the proposal fell short of the scale of the challenge.

The UK legislature returns to Parliament for an emergency session on Wednesday to discuss Afghanistan. Johnson will tell lawmakers that aid to Afghanistan must be increased immediately to avert a humanitarian crisis in the country after the Taliban came to power.

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ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has rejected reports claiming that it has abandoned plans to operate Kabul airport and said it is awaiting the outcome of ongoing talks between the Taliban and several Afghan politicians.

“We hope that they will come to an agreement in a peaceful way,” Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu told Hurriyet newspaper in comments printed on Wednesday. “After these (conversations) we can talk about these things.”

Turkey, a NATO member whose around 600 soldiers guarded the international airport in Kabul, has proposed that the airport continue to operate and protect after the withdrawal of US and NATO troops. The Taliban have announced that all NATO troops should leave Afghanistan.

Cavusoglu, meanwhile, defended the government’s decision to start talks with the Taliban after criticism from opposition parties.

“That doesn’t mean that we subscribe to their ideology. Everyone is pragmatic, ”he said.

The minister has also come under fire for saying the government welcomes “positive messages” from the Taliban.

“We said, ‘We applaud their messages,’ but we said we are careful, that is, we should put these (messages) into practice,” said Cavusoglu.

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ISLAMABAD – The British Prime Minister and the German Chancellor called their Pakistani counterparts about the rapidly developing situation in Afghanistan, the Foreign Ministry said in an overnight statement.

It was her first contact with Imran Khan since the Taliban took control of the country on Sunday.

According to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Khan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that “an inclusive political solution is the best way” to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.

In a separate statement, the ministry said Khan had also received a call from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Khan had relayed similar news.

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KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban blew up the statue of a Shiite militia leader who fought against them during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s.

The statue depicted a militia leader who was killed by the Taliban in 1996 when Islamic militants took power from rival warlords.

Abdul Ali Mazari was an advocate of the Hazara ethnic minority in Afghanistan, Shiites who were persecuted under the previous rule of the Sunni Taliban.

The statue stood in the central province of Bamyan, where the Taliban notoriously blew up two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues carved into a mountain in 2001. The Taliban claimed that the Buddhas violated the Islamic prohibition on idolatry.

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CANBERRA, Australia – Australia has evacuated the first 26 people, including Australian and Afghan citizens, from Kabul since the Taliban overran the Afghan capital, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday.

An Air Force C-130 Hercules transport aircraft landed at an Australian military base in the United Arab Emirates with the 26, including a foreign official who worked for an international agency, Morrison said. The rest were Australians and Afghans.

“This was the first of many flights, depending on clearance and weather, and we’re seeing some not-too-favorable weather forecasts for the end of this week,” said Morrison.

Two Hercules and two larger C-17A Globemaster transport aircraft will carry out further evacuation flights.

Australia plans to evacuate 130 Australians and their families and an unknown number of Afghans who have worked as interpreters for Australian soldiers and diplomats.

Australia’s goal is to evacuate 600 people, according to media reports. Morrison did not provide a number. “Our goal is as many as possible, as safely and as quickly as possible,” he said.

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