Arrangements for Karzai's Visit Underway, FM Spokesman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Arrangements for Karzai's Visit Underway, FM Spokesman

Hamid Karzai, leader of the interim Afghan government, will discuss peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan during talks with Chinese leaders, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said on Tuesday. The preparation work for the visit is underway.

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Karzai Meets Chinese Representative

At the invitation of the Chinese government, Karzai will visit China on January 23-24. He is paying the visit on his way home from the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan convened in Tokyo.

China and Afghanistan have been friendly neighbors since ancient times, Sun said, adding that during his visit, Karzai will exchange views with Chinese leaders on bilateral relations and other issues of common concern.

China looks forward to developing friendly and cooperative tieswith Afghanistan, Sun noted.

China would continue to oppose terrorism in all forms and cooperate with the international community to fight it, he said.

"Maintaining the long term stability and development in Central Asia not only conforms to the fundamental interests of the region itself and the surrounding countries, but is also conducive to world peace and stability," he added.

With regard to monetary assistance to Afghanistan, Sun said China donated one million U.S. dollars to the Afghan interim government as its initial donation at the Tokyo meeting, and priorto that, had provided the country with 30 million yuan worth of relief supplies.

China will go on giving aid to the country as reconstruction progresses, Sun said.

"With the establishment of the interim government it is our hope to establish friendly relations... we have always adopted a positive attitude for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and will provide assistance within our capacity," Sun said.

Who is Hamid Karzai

Hamid Karzai, believed to be on the run from the Taleban inside Afghanistan, is the latest envoy of the former King Zahir Shah to attempt to rally support among Pashtuns against the Taleban.

He is an ethnic Pashtun and the head of the influential Popalzoi clan, a position he inherited in 1999, after his father was shot dead in Quetta while returning home from a mosque. His father also fought the Soviet Union after its invasion of Afghanistan.

He was deputy foreign minister in the Mujahidin-backed government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, which came to power after the Soviet withdrawal in 1987. Mr Karzai represented his tribe in the government until the Taleban seized power in 1996.

The Taleban are reported to have cultivated him before they took power and offered him the post of ambassador to the United Nations. He was originally sympathetic towards the regime, but changed his position in 1994 after he became convinced that the Taleban had been compromised by Pakistani intelligence services. (Source:The Times(UK) November 2, 2001)

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