Chinese scholars leaving for Kabul, Kandahar today

The News Int. - By Rahimullah Yusufzai

PESHAWAR: In the wake of heightened Chinese interest in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, a four-member team of scholars from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) is leaving for Kabul today (Tuesday) on a week-long visit.

The team, comprising three men and a woman, is scheduled to travel to Kabul and Kandahar to meet Taliban leaders and develop a better understanding of the situation in Afghanistan...

The visitors asked searching questions about the prevalent situation in Afghanistan, Taliban and their policies, Osama bin Laden, and relations between Islamabad and Kabul...  They were escorted by Shahzada Ziauddin Ali, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

They said their visit to Afghanistan would provide them an opportunity to have a close look at the country and its Taliban rulers.

The team's visit to Afghanistan has assumed importance if seen in the backdrop of a recent presentation by another Chinese scholar during an international conference in the Area Study Centre (Russia and Central Asia), University of Peshawar. Gao Rongzhu, the Chinese scholar from the Muslim-majority Xinjiang province bordering Pakistan, caused a stir in the conference when he described Afghanistan as a centre of terrorism and said the Taliban were a threat to regional peace.