BEIJING (REUTERS) – China has played a constructive role in promoting peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan and is welcome to contribute to the rebuilding of the country, Taleban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Chinese state media.

Taleban militants seized control over the weekend in an upheaval that sent thousands of civilians and Afghan military allies fleeing for safety. Many fear a return to the austere interpretation of Islamic law imposed during the previous Taleban rule that ended 20 years ago.

In dealing with the Taleban, an increasingly powerful China may be able to leverage the fact that unlike Russia and the United States, it has not fought in Afghanistan.

“China is a big country with a huge economy and capacity – I think they can play a very big role in the rebuilding, rehabilitation, reconstruction of Afghanistan,” Mr Shaheen told CGTN television in an interview late on Thursday (Aug 19).

During Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with a Taleban delegation in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin last month, Mr Wang said he hoped Afghanistan could adopt a moderate Islamist policy.

China has cited religious extremism as a destabilising force in its western Xinjiang region and has long worried that Taleban-controlled territory would be used to harbour separatist forces.

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