Xi and Putin pledge to co-operate on Afghanistan after Taliban takeover
International | September 20, 2021
China’s leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart, on Friday pledged to join forces in an effort to prevent violence and instability spilling over Afghanistan’s borders into the wider region. Speaking via video link at a joint regional security forum in Dushanbe, the Tajikistan capital, the two leaders announced plans to share intelligence and hold regular talks on Afghanistan following its takeover last month by the Taliban. The event marks the first ever joint meeting on Afghanistan of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — a Eurasian political and security forum, of which Russia is also a member — and the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of some former Soviet states in the region…. (Excerpts from the Financial Times)