Shanthie Mariet D’Souza
On November 26, a six-member Chinese delegation headed by Yue Xiaoyong, the country’s special representative for Afghanistan affairs, travelled to Kandahar, where the Taliban’s reclusive head Hibatullah Akhundzada lives. One of the items on the agenda was to discuss Pakistan’s concerns regarding the Taliban sheltering the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan.
The Taliban chief, however, refused to pander to Chinese demands and made himself unavailable. Instead, meetings were held with the governor of Kandahar, Mawlawi Shirin, and Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Islamabad’s attempt to put pressure on the Taliban via the Chinese was unsuccessful. The Chinese, meanwhile, have been left to introspect about the gap between the leverage they think they have over the Taliban and the leverage they actually have.
A week earlier, on November 18, Yue was in Islamabad, holding discussions with Pakistani Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch and other officials. During the meeting, Pakistan shared fresh evidence of the TTP’s use of Afghan territory for cross-border attacks. Pakistani officials reportedly told the Chinese envoy that it was time to take a collective stance against the Afghan Taliban to persuade them to meet the promises they made to the international community. Islamabad has tried to project the TTP as a common enemy and is trying to convince Beijing to act in the face of the Afghan Taliban’s dismissals of Pakistan’s repeated pleas.
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