East Turkistan Islamic Movement militants fighting for independence for Xinjiang have left Afghanistan, the Taliban leadership revealed in a recent interview with Chinese media, indicating that China’s concerns have already been addressed by the Taliban. Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson, told Global Times that many members of the organization left Afghanistan after the Doha agreement because they were told that no one could use Afghanistan against other countries.
According to the Taliban leader, they have three commitments. ‘First, we will not allow any training on our territory. Secondly, we won’t allow any fundraising to be conducted on our soil. Third, we won’t allow a recruitment center to be established in Afghanistan,’ Suhail Shaheen stated without specifying whether the Taliban will extradite the ETM members to China if China asks.
At the meeting between Chinese foreign minister Wang Yo and Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in July, Yi had urged the Taliban to crack down on the ETIM. China reiterated the issue after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. China claims the ETIM group is responsible for more than 200 terrorist attacks in Xinjiang between 1990 and 2001. The group wants to form East Turkestan out of China’s Xinjiang province. The UNSC-designated terrorist organization has been categorized as an affiliate of Al Qaida.
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According to PTI, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Beijing has taken note of the Taliban spokesman’s interview. ‘The Taliban must honour their words by breaking ties with the ETIM and other terrorist groups, and take effective measures on its territory to resolutely crackdown on these terrorist organisations’, Zhao said.
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