China calls for lifting sanctions on Afghanistan

Update: 2021-09-23 18:17 GMT

Beijing: China on Thursday called for the lifting of sanctions against the Taliban-administered Afghanistan and urged the US not to use the frozen foreign exchange reserves of the war-torn country as a "bargaining chip" to exert political pressure on the hardline militant group.

Addressing the G20 Foreign Ministers via a video link, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also demanded the rushing of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan without any delay.

"Humanitarian assistance is a task which brooks no delay. We should redouble efforts on and speed up the provision of assistance to Afghanistan, and in particular, lend the Afghan people a helping hand in time to address their most urgent needs, a foreign ministry statement quoted Wang as saying.

He highlighted China's decision to provide 200-million-yuan (USD 31 million) aid, which included three million vaccines.

Wang also asked the US to release frozen foreign reserves of Afghanistan's central

bank. 

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