China sees role for India in Afghanistan affairs

BEIJING, APRIL 16. China today said it welcomed all international efforts, including that of India, towards bringing peace and stability in the civil war-torn Afghanistan.

``China welcomes all the efforts that are conducive to peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan issue,'' the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Ms. Zhang Qiyue, said when asked to comment whether China saw a role for India in the affairs of Afghanistan.

Pakistan had reacted strongly to Iran's suggestion during the visit of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the Gulf last week that Islamabad should work with New Delhi and Teheran to resolve the Afghan issue.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, on Saturday ruled out any role for India in Afghanistan.

``The world community has identified eight countries which have a role to play in bringing peace to Afghanistan and India is not among them,'' Mr. Sattar, who is scheduled to arrive here later today, had commented in Rawalpindi.

The United Nations has established a `six-plus-two group' to try to broker an end to the bitter war in Afghanistan. The six countries are Afghanistan's neighbours - Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The two are the United States and Russia.

With Pakistan being one of the three countries to support Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, Mr. Sattar is expected to be asked by his Chinese counterpart, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan on the developments in Kabul, diplomatic sources here said.

China has expressed its concern about Islamic militancy in Afghanistan and its suspected links with an Islamic separatist movement in its north-western Xinjiang province.

Ms. Zhang pointed out that the civil war in Afghanistan, going on for more than 20 years, not only made the people suffer a lot but also brought a ``negative influence'' to the peace and stability in the region.

Taliban, which controls 90 per cent of Afghanistan, has criticised Vajpayee's statement and accused him of ``hatching conspiracies'' to destabilise the region.

- PTI

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