Joint Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Afghanistan Focus of Tajik & Chinese Officials’ Meet

Rustam Emomali, Tajikistan’s Parliament Speaker and Han Zheng, Chinese vice-president agreed to expand cooperation between both the countries to fight terrorism and drug trafficking in Afghanistan.

Both officials met in Beijing and reviewed the situation in Afghanistan.

Tajikistan and China, like other countries, do not recognise the Taliban and have repeatedly asked the group to fulfill their commitments towards fighting terrorism.

Tajikistan is worried about the presence of ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups on its borders and China, despite its close relations with the Taliban, has a written pledge from the Taliban that the group will fight against the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

According to the Tajik media, during the meeting between the Tajik and Chinese officials which took place on Tuesday, it had been decided that Beijing and Dushanbe will cooperate under the framework of the United Nations, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, as well as other regional and international organisations, to fight terrorism, extremism, and transnational organised crime.

Tajikistan announced that several documents were signed during Rustam Emomali’s visit to China to expand cooperation between the two countries.