China Global Television Network (CGTN) has organised a special TV forum entitled “Afghanistan in Transition ” to call global attention to the challenges the country still faces a year after the withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021.
Senior government officials, international organisation representatives and scholars inside and outside Afghanistan discussed solutions to the humanitarian challenges that befell the country, as well as potential areas of cooperation for the post-war reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan in Transition – path to resolving the humanitarian crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlXk1E9uqIY&t=3050s
The special program was jointly produced by CGTN and Shamshad TV broadcasting from studios in Beijing and Kabul, the first such collaboration between mainstream Chinese and Afghan media.
In his opening speech, Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, called on the world to join hands and stand by the Afghan people in solidarity.
“Nineteen million Afghans, nearly half the population, remain food insecure, of which 6.6 million people are at emergency levels of food insecurity, the largest number in one single country,” Griffiths said.
Meanwhile, in his keynote speech, Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Special Envoy for Afghan Affairs Yue Xiaoyong echoed Chinese President Xi Jinping in saying that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is the aspiration of all Afghan people and that peace in Afghanistan is in the common interest of regional countries and the international community.
Yue also emphasised that “China is ready to work with all parties to implement both bilateral and multilateral consensus on Afghanistan issues, including the Tunxi Initiative, and keep on contributing to lasting peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.”
The TV forum featured the participation of representatives from Afghanistan’s interim and the previous Afghan governments, as well as representatives from China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, India and the U.S.
“International attention (in Afghanistan) has declined because of the Biden administration’s inability to deal with the issue of Afghanistan and the shameful exit the U.S. had last year,” according to Muhammad Sulaiman Bin Shah, former Afghan Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce. “It’s a combination of issues from the international, regional as well as home affairs that have crippled the economy in Afghanistan.”
Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of the Afghan interim government, called for the release of 7 billion US dollars in Afghan funds that are held by the U.S. “As foreign troops and occupation forces pulled out of Afghanistan, they not only ended jobs and opportunities but they also imposed illegal and immoral sanctions on Afghanistan, which has escalated the situation,” said Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
The TV forum was streamed live via CGTN’s digital platforms and its Pashto edition will be aired by Shamshad TV in Afghanistan. To date, the special program has received media attention in Afghanistan and around the world and has been picked up by over 600 media outlets, reaching an audience of nearly 300 million people.
