Pakistan believes Taliban will form govt in few days

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan is set to form its own government in a few days, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Tuesday, hours after the last US soldier left Afghanistan.

"We expect that a consensus government will be formed in the coming days in Afghanistan," Shah Mehmood Qureshi told a news conference in Islamabad with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

Qureshi said Pakistan was already hosting three million Afghan refugees, adding that they were being provided all facilities including health, education, etc. "Pakistan has kept its borders open. People are travelling between the two countries and trade is also going on," he said. Qureshi called on the international community to provide Afghanistan with every possible help.

"Pakistan wishes to see a stable, prosperous and progressive Afghanistan," he added. The German foreign minister welcomed the Afghan Taliban's recent statements in which they have promised no retribution and assured to uphold human rights in the country. Haas said it would be better if a broad-based, inclusive government was formed in Afghanistan. He said that the situation in Afghanistan had changed "dramatically", adding that Pakistan had helped in the evacuation of the citizens of Afghanistan, Germany and other countries.

Meanwhile, China said the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year conflict signalled the country has "turned a new page", after Beijing criticised Washington´s chaotic exit.

"Afghanistan has been able to free itself of foreign military occupation," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular briefing. "The Afghan people have ushered in a new beginning for national peace and reconstruction, and Afghanistan have turned a new page." "We hope that Afghanistan will form an open, inclusive and broadly representative government... and resolutely crack down on all kinds of terrorist forces," Wang said.