Tuesday, December 26, 2017

China Joins Pakistan And Afghanistan To Push The Taliban To Enter Into Peace Talks

Afghan FM Rabbani, Chinese FM Wang Yi and Pakistani FM Asif attend a joint news conference after the 1st China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue in Beijing Thomson Reuters

Bloomberg: China Steps Up to Broker Peace in Afghan-Pakistan Conflict

Foreign ministers met in Beijing to discuss cooperation
Beijing has adopted a more proactive foreign policy under Xi

China hosted top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan on Tuesday in a bid to mediate a long-simmering conflict between the neighboring countries.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif joined their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Tuesday to discuss possible economic and security cooperation. The first trilateral minister-level dialogue in Beijing comes as China expands its economic interests in Pakistan.

“China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as three neighbors, will naturally try to strengthen cooperation amongst each other,” Wang was quoted as saying by state broadcaster CCTV. “This is fully in accordance with our common interests, and is a good thing for us.”

Read more ....

Update: Pakistan, Afghanistan appeal to Taliban to join peace talks (ABC News/AP)

WNU Editor: There are other factors that are involved. One is economic .... China, Pakistan to look at including Afghanistan in $57 billion economic corridor (Business Insider). The other is counter-terrorism .... China, Pakistan, Afghanistan resolve to fight terrorism (Economic Times). But is this enough to bring the Taliban to the peace-table .... I doubt it.

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