China on Wednesday said the new interim government announced by the Taliban has put an end to “anarchy” in Afghanistan as a result of hasty US troops withdrawal. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a media briefing in Beijing termed it as a “necessary step” to restore order, even as he reiterated its stand that the Afghan militant group should form a broad-based political structure and follow moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies.
The Taliban on Tuesday announced a hardline interim government led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, with key roles being shared by high-profile members of the insurgent group, including a specially designated global terrorist of the dreaded Haqqani Network as the interior minister. Even as much of the world has adopted a cautious approach to engagement with the Taliban, China has already said it is ready to build friendly relations with the group following their takeover. “We are ready to maintain communication with the new government in Afghanistan and leaders,” the spokesperson said.
“We pay attention to the formation of the government. This has put an end to the anarchy in Afghanistan after over three weeks and the necessary step for Afghanistan to restore domestic order and pursue the post war reconstruction,” he said. “We noticed that the Afghan Taliban said that the interim government has formed to restore social and economic order as soon as possible,” he said.
“We hope the new Afghan administration in the capacity of interim government will broadly solicit the opinions of all ethnic groups and factions and echo the expectations of Afghan people and aspiration of the international community,” he said, adding that China has noted the Taliban’s comment that all people will benefit from the new administration.
China, along with Pakistan and Russia, has kept its embassy open in Kabul and its envoy has met the top officials of Taliban after its seized power last month.