Taliban Says It Sees China As A "Friend" Of Afghanistan: Report

The comments came as the Taliban made territorial gains in the war-torn country amid the withdrawal of the US forces. China has already evacuated 210 of its nationals from Afghanistan by a chartered flight this week.

The Taliban has said it sees China as a "friend" of Afghanistan and assured Beijing that it would not host Uyghur Islamic militants from the volatile Xinjiang province, which is a major worry for the Chinese government, according to a media report. The comments came as the Taliban made territorial gains in the war-torn country amid the withdrawal of the US forces. China has already evacuated 210 of its nationals from Afghanistan by a chartered flight this week. Beijing is concerned that under Taliban rule, Afghanistan will become a hub for the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist outfit aligned to Al-Qaeda which is waging an insurgency in Xinjiang. The resource-rich Xinjiang shares about 8- km-long border with Afghanistan.