China ready to continue efforts to ease Pak-Afghan tensions, says Lin Jian

‘Most urgent task’ to avoid escalation

BEIJING: China on Monday reiterated its offer to continue efforts to ease ongoing border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The most urgent task is to avoid the expansion of the war and return the two countries to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

“China is willing to continue to make efforts to achieve reconciliation and ease relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said, adding that Beijing has been mediating between both sides in recent days.

The remarks come days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Islamabad and Kabul should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force.

There has been resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

On the night of February 26, the government said Pakistan’s security forces launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border.

As that operation continues, the armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram sector targeted and destroyed important Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij hideouts, security sources said on Monday.

“During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape,” a security source said.

Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses to refer to the banned TTP.

The armed forces also destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the Pak-Afghan border in KP’s Bajaur sector.

The forces targeted Afghan Taliban posts with “guided missiles”. Monitoring Desk