Daily Times

In a joint statement issued at the conclusion of a day-long trilateral meeting of foreign ministers on Saturday, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan urged the Taliban to join the peace process ‘at an early date’.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and his Chinese and Pakistani counterparts Wang Yi and Shah Mahmood Qureshi called upon all the parties involved in the conflict to end violence and the loss of innocent lives in Afghanistan as efforts are underway to start the peace process.

Taliban have previously rejected all calls for talks with the Afghan government and insist at holding dialogue with the US.

The 2nd Afghanistan-China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue in Kabul, presided over by Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, reiterated its support to the Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process, which is fully supported regionally and internationally, as the most viable way to bring peace in Afghanistan. The three sides also expressed their strong determination not to allow any country, organization or individual to use their respective territories for terrorist activities against any other countries.

The three sides took stock of trilateral cooperation in their fight against terrorism and underlined the need to further strengthen counter-terrorism coordination and cooperation in an effort to combat all terrorist groups and individuals without any discrimination.”They also agreed to counter terrorist’s logistical capabilities including financing, recruitment, training, and strengthen trilateral cooperation for counter-terrorism capacity building, deny terrorist use of the internet and to take joint steps for de-radicalization, as well as work together to break the nexus between narco-trade and terror financing.

To advance their cooperation in the fields of counter-terrorism, the three sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on counter-terrorism,” the statement said.

The three sides reiterated their strong resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and without any distinction,” it said, adding that the three foreign ministers agreed to jointly continue their efforts for building political mutual trust and support reconciliation, development cooperation and connectivity, security cooperation and counter-terrorism as the three areas of the trilateral cooperation.

China and Pakistan appreciated the efforts of President Ashraf Ghani especially for the comprehensive peace plans that came out of the second Kabul Process in Kabul this year, the statement further said.

The joint statement said China expressed its readiness to support Afghanistan and Pakistan in building immigration reception center and drinking water supply schemes at each side of the Ghulam Khan crossing point in North Waziristan district, and to explore cold storages at Chaman in Balochistan and Spin Boldak, the border Afghan town. “China supports enhanced coordination between Afghanistan and Pakistan on major energy and connectivity projects including the construction of Quetta-Kandahar railway and Kabul-Peshawar motorway and railway. The three sides reiterated their firm commitment to implement the activities and projects agreed to under practical cooperation,” the statement said.

China and Pakistan also congratulated Afghanistan on the completion of the parliamentary elections, and welcomed the efforts of the Afghan government for holding the presidential elections in 2019.

The three sides, once again, reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening their relations, deepening cooperation and advancing connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) and other regional economic initiatives.

The three sides agreed to promote China-Afghanistan-Pakistan trilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. The three sides agreed to continue economic development cooperation in areas of mutual interest. They will continue to implement and expand the ‘soft’ projects such as exchange and capacity building programs, and explore ‘hard’ projects of livelihood facilities and connectivity.

They agreed to implement the consensus of the 2nd Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue through the trilateral Vice-Ministerial Strategic Dialogue, Vice-Ministerial Consultation on Counter-Terrorism and Security, and Director Generals’ Practical Cooperation as well as other agreed mechanisms.

China and Pakistan thanked Afghanistan for the successful organization of the 2nd China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue and its warm hospitality, and the three sides agreed that the 3rd Afghanistan-China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue would be held in Islamabad in 2019.

Published in Daily Times, December 16^th2018.