The Taliban is denying reports that it attended peace talks in China with Afghan officials.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese Communist Party held the peace talks on May 19 and 20 in Urumqi in northwest China.
The talks were allegedly facilitated by Pakistan’s Inter-Services (ISI) spy agency. It claimed a four-member delegation from the Taliban met with senior members of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council.
The Taliban, however, said the talks never happened.
“We strongly reject these rumors,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement emailed to Voice of America on the morning of May 25.
“The enemy wants to raise the spirits of its morale-lacking security personnel with such propaganda,” Mujahid said.
According to VOA, since April, the Taliban in Afghanistan has increased attacks throughout the country. It has also been ignoring Pakistan’s calls to cease the offensive.
If the statements from the Taliban are true, it suggests the Chinese regime is playing a familiar propaganda tune.
