China defends Taliban Jihadi ‘sovereignty’ against US airstrike that kills al Qaeda chief

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was issued remarks during her regular briefing on Tuesday, declaring, “there should be no double standards on counter-terrorism and it should be against all forms of terrorism,” possibly an attack on America for not backing China’s claims that the genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghur-occupied East Turkestan is a campaign against terrorism.

This photo released on Aug. 2, 2022 by the White House shows US President Biden meeting with the national security team to discuss the counter-terrorism operation to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri. (AFP)

“Counter-terrorism cooperation should not come at the expense of other countries’ sovereignty,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. Hua did not celebrate the death of the head of one of the world’s most prominent jihadist organizations or directly mention the United States.

The Chinese government propaganda newspaper Global Timesciting supposed “experts”, doomed the United States for carrying out an airstrike that “violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty” on Tuesday.

US soldiers stand guard behind barbed wire as Afghans sit on a street near the military wing of the airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021, hoping to leave the country after the Taliban took over Afghanistan. (WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

“Chinese experts said the so-called anti-terrorist action is a violation of Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty and may be a strategy to score political points in the upcoming midterm elections.” Global Times confirmed. Citing an unnamed “Beijing-based expert,” the report concluded, “the US has once again openly encroached on Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty after its troop withdrawal in 2021, proving that the country has ‘never really changed’.” despite her commitment”.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, stands next to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, deputy prime minister of the Afghan Taliban interim government, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 24, 2022. (Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua via AP)

A listed “expert” identified as Li Wei was cited in the article as disputing the Pentagon’s claim that the strike on Zawahiri resulted in no other casualties – a claim the Taliban themselves did not deny.

“Li Wei, a national security expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that a drone attack on a densely populated area could have caused damage to surrounding buildings or even casualties to local residents, given the large impact of Hellfire missiles’. The Times rebroadcast. Lee later said the strike was a “violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Taliban “regardless of legality” because the Taliban jihadists had not been informed in advance that US forces would target their ally.

A view of the Sherpur neighborhood where al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a US drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 2, 2022. (Sayed Khodaiberdi Sadat/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The Chinese objections to the airstrike echoed an official statement released this week by senior Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, which did not mention Zawahiri or al-Qaeda.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns this attack for any reason and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement,” Mujahid said in the statement. “Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan and the region. Repeating such actions will damage the opportunities available.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid addresses a press conference in Kabul on September 7, 2021. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

The “Doha Accord” is the agreement brokered between the Taliban and the Trump administration that required the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan on the condition that the Taliban cut ties with al-Qaeda. Mujahid has denied, falsely, in the past that the deal required any such commitment to divest from terrorist organizations.

Zawahiri’s elimination has brought the relationship between the Taliban and al-Qaeda back to the forefront of problems arising from Biden’s disastrous expansion of the war in Afghanistan, which led to the Taliban’s abrupt withdrawal and return to power. Asked in an interview on Monday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby admitted that “some senior leaders of the Haqqani Network knew” that Zawahiri was living in the capital.

The Haqqani Network is a Sunni terrorist organization that acts in many ways as a bridge between the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Many members of the Haqqani family now serve as cabinet ministers in the rogue Taliban “government”. Shortly after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the Biden administration falsely claimed that the Taliban and the Haqqani Network were “separate entities.”

“Look, I mean, al Qaeda was on the ground in Afghanistan even as the president decided to end that war, and we knew, and we talked about it, that al Qaeda was already reestablishing its presence there.” Kirby said after Zawahiri’s death this week.

The newspaper of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on National revealed in a report this week that it was possible that more than just senior Haqqani Network leaders knew that Zawahiri was living in Kabul, as the septuagenarian terror chief spent much of his time sunbathing on his balcony without measures to hide his identity. His behavior suggested he felt protected in the densely populated capital, a sign of continuing ties between the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Last month, the United Nations released a report confirming that Zawahiri was still alive, “communicating freely” and “likely to be active in Afghanistan.”

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