Team News Riveting
The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan government has reportedly relocated the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) militants from the province bordering China but Beijing is still anxious fearing for the worst.
China’s top envoy to the United Nations Zhang Jun said they are facing a heightened threat from terrorism after a UN report revealed that members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement has called for jihad, or holy war, in Xinjiang. China’s Xinjiang policies have drawn the ire of transnational militant organizations and the topic of Uyghur repression has found rhetorical traction within global jihadist discourse.
Beijing is concerned about the Taliban’s historic ties to Uygur militants, particularly ETIM– a Uygur separatist group that Beijing partly blames for ethnic tensions in its far western Xinjiang region.
Speaking at a UN meeting on Wednesday, Jun also urged the Taliban government in Afghanistan to take further action to combat terrorism. “In Afghanistan, the withdrawal of foreign troops has created a vacuum in the security situation, providing an opportunity for terrorist forces to take advantage of the chaos,” Zhang said at the meeting on threats to international security from terrorism.
A UN report last week said that 200 to 700 ETIM fighters had remained in Afghanistan after the withdrawals of US forces. It said they had been relocated from their traditional stronghold in Badakhshan province, on the border with China. The move was reportedly aimed to oblige China that had backed the Taliban regime. The region that has a 91-kilometer border with China in the east has been a strong hold of militants.
According to the reports, the militants have been shifted to Baghlan, Takhar and other provinces as part of the Taliban’s efforts to both protect and restrain the group. But the region adjoins Badakhshan leaving Beijing restless.
