China said on Tuesday it maintains contact with all parties related to the Afghan peace talks, confirming, though indirectly, the visit of a Taliban delegation to Beijing last month.
Analysts said the visit came at a delicate time after a former Taliban leader was killed in a US drone strike a few months ago, as China is interested in learning the new leader's political stance to help facilitate the peace talks.
In a faxed statement to the Global Times on Tuesday, China's foreign ministry said the country has always supported the "Afghan-led, Afghan-owned" political reconciliation process and supports the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban so the country can restore stability as soon as possible.
"Therefore, China maintains contact with all parties related to the Afghan issue and is willing to continue playing a constructive role," the foreign ministry said without providing further details on the visit.
A delegation led by Abbas Stanakzai, head of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, visited Beijing from July 18-22, Reuters reported.
"We informed the Chinese officials about the occupation by invading forces and their atrocities on the Afghan people … We wanted the Chinese leadership to help us raise these issues at world forums and help us win freedom from occupying forces," Reuters quoted an anonymous Taliban official as saying.
China is a member of the four-nation group that attempted to restart peace talks with the Taliban earlier this year, along with Pakistan, the US and Afghanistan.
The efforts were stalled after former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan in May.
The US said in July that it would leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan through 2016, a reversal of an earlier plan to drop to 5,500 by January 2017
"The visit of the Taliban delegation is part of a routine level of communication China maintains with opposition forces in Afghanistan," said Yu Guoqing, a research fellow of West and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"It's not in China's best interests to show indifference to disturbances in a neighboring country. China is in a good position to serve as a broker in Afghanistan's reconciliation talks, and China has very good reason to do so," Yu said.
Although Afghanistan is traditionally considered a low diplomatic priority for Beijing, China's interests in the country have been growing in the past few years, fearing that instability in Afghanistan might spill over into the bordering Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or affect China's global economic strategy - the Belt and Road initiative.
Building a peace platform
Analysts said the visit came at a delicate and important time for Afghanistan.
"The US-backed Afghan government faces many challenges, including stabilizing the economy and coordinating some internal relations … From the perspective of peace talks, the Taliban has launched a series of attacks on government targets since Mansour's death, aiming to attract more followers and to put pressure on the Afghan government and the US," Dong Manyuan, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.
The Taliban has made gains against government forces in the past months, driving back Afghan troops from key positions and launching a series of bombings in Kabul, CNN reported.
Dong said China wishes to learn more about the political stance of Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's new leader, to see where he stands on reconciliation talks with the US-backed Afghan government.
"The Taliban used to govern Afghanistan and it represents the interests of the Pushtun people, the country's largest ethnic group. It will not be possible for the Afghan government to attain peace if the Taliban is kept away from negotiations. Therefore, the best possible political move would be to include those from the Taliban who are most willing to engage in dialogue," Qian Feng, an expert at the Chinese Association for South Asian Studies, told the Global Times. Qian said China has no intention of replacing the US' role in Afghanistan, adding that it would not be practical.
"What China wants is to help build a platform for peace talks where the Afghans can lead the reconciliation process. China genuinely wishes to see a stable Afghan society where terror activities can be controlled," Qian said.
Afghanistan's deteriorating security situation also takes a toll on Afghan-Pakistani ties.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has repeatedly criticized Pakistan for providing a sanctuary to militant groups, urging Pakistan to do more. Pakistan, for its part, argues that it is doing as much as it can and the country cannot tell the Taliban what to do.
Pakistan is China's all-weather strategic partner.
"It is not in China's interests to see rifts deepen between Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are misunderstandings between the two sides and both need to find ways to sit down and engage in earnest talks," Dong said.