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An Afghan lawmaker contesting this week's parliamentary elections was among four people killed on Wednesday by a bomb planted under his office chair, officials said, an attack claimed by the Taliban.
The MP, Abdul Jabar Qahraman, was killed as he prepared for Saturday's election, a senior government official said, becoming the 10th candidate killed in the past two months, with two more abducted and four wounded by hardline Islamist militants.
"Such brutal acts of the terrorists and their supporters cannot weaken people's trust in the peaceful and democratic processes," President Abdul Ghani said in a statement condemning the attack.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in the southern province of Helmand, saying in a statement, "We have killed Qahraman, a renowned communist."
India and China launched a programme on Monday to train Afghan diplomats and China's ambassador said it would likely be followed by joint programmes in other fields to help war-torn Afghanistan.Such cooperation is the first by the two Asian giants which have long been locked in a tussle for influence in a region stretching from Nepal to Sri Lanka and the island chain of the Maldives.Within Afghanistan, India and the China have been on opposite sides with China relying on its old ally Pakistan as it seeks to stabilise Afghanistan by various means, including brokering talks to end the Taliban insurgency.India, on the other hand, has invested billions of dollars in economic projects and training of military officers to strengthen the Afghan government in its fight against the Taliban.Leader of Russia-backed Crimea to visit SyriaFor its part, Pakistan sees the expansive diplomacy in Afghanistan by its old rival, India, as a way to encircle it.China's ambassador to India said the joint training of 10 Afghan diplomats at the Indian Foreign Service Institute was the first step in China-India-Afghanistan cooperation that was agreed at a summit between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year."This is just the beginning. China and India have respective advantages. For example, India has remarkable edge in agriculture and medical services, and China in hybrid rice and poverty reduction," the ambassador, Luo Zhaohui, said in a speech."I am sure that in the future days China-India cooperation in Afghanistan will span from training programme to more concrete projects."Taliban attacks in Afghanistan kill at least 22 security forcesModi and Xi agreed to handle long-standing political differences peacefully at their summit in China, just months after a dispute over a stretch of their Himalayan border near the tiny state of Bhutan rekindled fears of war.Luo said India-China cooperation in Afghanistan should be extended to countries such as Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, Myanmar and even Iran.In many of these countries, China is helping to build infrastructure as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, which India sees as a bid by China to expand its influence.China's call for partnership comes just a week after its embassy in New Delhi said India and China must deepen their cooperation to fight trade protectionism, as it criticised the United States for what it termed provoking disputes. US envoy talks with Taliban, then back in Kabul
India, China launch joint training for Afghanistan, plan more projects
The Taliban have ordered Afghans to boycott the much-delayed parliamentary polls in their battle to overthrow the Western-backed government and establish their own Islamist regime.
Three men sitting in Qahraman's office at the time were also killed, said interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, adding that police had arrested three suspects in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.
The blast wounded seven people, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
"A bomb was placed below Qahraman's chair in his campaign office," he added. "We are investigating the incident."
Wednesday's blast follows the deaths of 22 people last week in an explosion at an election rally for a woman candidate in the northeastern province of Takhar.