China slams ‘hasty’ U.S. Afghan withdrawal

The message was delivered in a phone call between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken

China on Tuesday said the “hasty” United States withdrawal from Afghanistan had caused “a severely adverse impact” there and conveyed to Washington that it could not “on the one hand work hard to contain China” and “on the other count on China’s support” to help stabilise the country. The message was delivered in a phone call on Tuesday between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, which China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement took place at the latter’s request. Mr. Wang criticised the U.S. withdrawal to Mr. Blinken as well as it’s broader Afghan strategy over the past 20 years, delivering a withering assessment of its legacy there, according to the MFA statement carrying a readout of the call.