HAINAN, CHINA - Meshrano Jirga chairman Fazl Hadi Muslimyar said that terrorism would engulf other countries if needed steps not taken against states supporting terror groups.
Muslimyar said this while addressing the Boao Forum for annual Asia economic conference in Hainan.
The conference was attended by Chinese deputy prime minister, Nepal prime minister, the president of Madagascar, the president of Micronesia, vice-president of Myanmar and leaders from some other countries.
Muslimyar said Afghanistan had still the prestige of connecting Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia.
The upper house chairman said recent visits of government officials, negotiations and signing of different agreements between the two countries further cemented friendship between China and Afghanistan.
He added a free trade zone (FTZ) suggested by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013 would connect large number of countries through land and sea if implemented.
“The second plan is the route that would pass from China in the Central Asian countries, we believe implementation of the two plans would revive the historic role of Silk Road,” he said.
“We need a permanent peace in the region, our regional countries are also suffering from terrorism, drug trafficking and other similar problems, so we together should fight against these problems and resolve them ourselves,” he said.
Muslimyar said 20 terrorist groups including Daesh or so called Islamic State (IS) were fighting in Afghanistan and killing innocent people.
However, he said all terrorist groups were trained, equipped and resided outside Afghanistan.
“It is not far when other regional countries would also burn in the fire that is currently burning Afghanistan if the states supporting terrorism are not controlled,” he said.
“We also need China’s support in education, fortunately many Afghan youth are busy in higher education in major Chinese universities,” he said, adding many culturists, academics, journalists, archeologists and civil society activists from China had visited Afghanistan in the recent years.
He invited the China’s national congress leadership and the China People’s Political Consultative Conference to send their representatives to Afghanistan to meet their Afghan counterparts. (Pajhwok)