“It is not a complete withdrawal. Whatever structures will come up in future, it will come up with consensus between all parties involved,” Singh said.
“We have shared views on international terrorism. We have mentioned in numerous fora. International terrorism and its linkages need to be taken care of. We are happy that China shares this view,” he said adding that China does not want Afghanistan to become an epicentre of terror again.
Asked about possibilities of intelligence sharing over various terror groups which have common linkages, he said “these things will evolve over a period of time. At this moment to say anything will not be correct”.
China blames East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an al-Qaeda-backed militant group for the violence in Xinjiang which ironically has its training bases in Pakistan’s tribal area.
Similarly, officials say a number of India-linked militant groups in Pakistan have their common linkages with al-Qaeda and Taliban.
To a question about the issue of cross border infiltration, Singh said “We have shared concerns. How the shared concern goes in future, let us wait and see”.
Asked what he meant by the shared concern, Singh said that the apprehension was that the region may fall back into what it was.
“Obviously, China is concerned that peace and development must prevail in Afghanistan, same as we think,” he said.
He said in his brief meeting Wang did not mention ETIM.
“All he shared was his view of terrorism. I do not know what he is thinking,” he said.
Asked about India’s assessment of Afghanistan, Singh said “We have welcomed the national unity government because it brings certain amount of stability. We hope it would be able to bring about better administration and take help from the processes the world has placed out there whether financial or otherwise for betterment of Afghanistan”.
India has so far contributed about USD 1.4 billion for various projects in Afghanistan which included highways, dams as well as construction of the Afghan parliament building.
China today pledged to provide non-reimbursable assistance of USD 81.43 million to Afghanistan this year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said addressing the conference.
Beijing will also provide non-reimbursable assistance of about USD 244 million over the coming three years to Afghanistan, he said.
China will also help the country train 3,000 Afghans in the next five years and provide 500 scholarships, Li said. PTI KJV KUN AKJ
