Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping
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.
The leader of Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, is to visit Syria on Monday, the pro-government newspaper al-Watan said.Russia-backed Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov will visit Damascus for two days.Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's seven-year long conflict. The leaders of two other Russia-backed breakaway regions, Georgia's South Ossetia and Abkhazia, also visited Damascus this year.Crimea has been under Western sanctions since it was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014.International Space Station crew has enough supplies for at least six months: Russian officialRussia: Meeting on Afghanistan may take place late Oct.
Leader of Russia-backed Crimea to visit Syria
For 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 militants killed at least 22 security forces, including a district police chief, in separate attacks on security checkpoints in two Afghan provinces, officials said on Sunday, ahead of parliamentary elections set for this week.The Taliban have ramped up attacks in strategic provinces in their battle to expel foreign forces, topple the Western-backed government and restore their version of hardline Islamic law.The police chief of Mizan, a district in southern Zabul province, was killed in armed clashes with Taliban insurgents on Saturday night, the provincial governor, Rahmatullah Yarmal, said.In the western province of Farah, Taliban fighters killed 21 troops at two checkpoints in the district of Posht-e Rud.The Taliban captured 11 soldiers and seized their weapons, added Gul Ahmad Faqiri, a member of the Farah provincial council.The hardline Islamist militant group claimed the attacks."Our fighters have killed the police chief and 25 Afghan soldiers in two provinces on Saturday night," its spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahidhe, said in a statement.Last week the Taliban ordered Afghans to boycott the elections, set for Oct. 20, saying the United States was using them for the sole purpose of legitimising its authority and presence in the country.The vote, seen by the Afghan government's international partners as a dry run for presidential elections next year, has been hampered by chaotic preparations, allegations of fraud and ever-present fears of militant violence.Afghan Taliban says will continue talks with US peace envoyUS envoy for Afghan peace returns to Kabul after meeting TalibanAt least 13 dead, dozens injured in blast at Afghan election rally
Taliban attacks in Afghanistan kill at least 22 security forces
Modi 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.
In a landmark development, Afghanistan’s Taliban rebels have announced that they met with Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, in Doha, Qatar, before he arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday.In a short statement on Saturday, the group announced that their negotiation team met with a U.S. negotiation team headed by Khalilzad on Friday and discussed “ending occupation” and working towards finding a peaceful resolution to the Afghan conflict.The Taliban account has not been confirmed by the U.S. or Afghan government.The statement identified the “presence of foreign forces as the greatest obstacle obstructing true peace and solving problems.”“Efforts must be made towards a true and intra-Afghan solution,” the statement said, adding that both sides agreed to continue holding meetings in the future.Later Saturday, in his second trip to Kabul in less than a week, Khalilzad briefed Afghan leaders on his recent engagement for the peace process in Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.Afghan Taliban says will continue talks with US peace envoyFlanked by Gen. Scott Miller, top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass, Khalilzad briefed President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and his deputies about his first trip to the region since being appointed last month aimed at expediting the peace process.According to the president’s office, the U.S. envoy said Washington was ready to help Afghanistan with the peace process. It noted in a statement that Khalilzad said the U.S. would continue its efforts with the Afghan peace process alongside the leadership of the Afghan government.The apparent push by the U.S. for the reconciliation process has raised hopes in the war-ravaged country.US envoy for Afghan peace returns to Kabul after meeting TalibanAt least 13 dead, dozens injured in blast at Afghan election rallyDeen Mohammad, member of the High Peace Council, the Afghan government body tasked with pursuing peace with the Taliban, told Anadolu Agency that the efforts by Khalilzad, a seasoned Afghan-born U.S. diplomat who has also served as ambassador to Kabul, Iraq, and the UN, would help pave way for a peaceful settlement of the raging conflict.“His back-to-back trips to Riyadh, Islamabad, and Doha demonstrate the seriousness with which he is pursuing a peaceful settlement,” he said.
US envoy talks with Taliban, then back in Kabul