China calls for adjustments on Afghanistan sanctions
A Chinese envoy on Thursday called on the United Nations Security Council to make necessary adjustments to the Afghanistan sanctions regime in light of the situation on the ground. Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal in an explanation of vote after the Security Council adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the monitoring team that supports the Afghanistan Sanctions Committee. "Afghanistan is at a critical stage of peaceful reconstruction. The international community needs to maintain its attention and commitment, strengthen constructive engagement with the Afghan authorities in order to help Afghanistan emerge from its humanitarian plight, improve its economy and livelihood, regain development momentum, improve human rights protection, and reintegrate into the family of nations," Geng said. Geng went on to say that terrorist threats in Afghanistan remain serious and that the international community should maintain a high degree of vigilance, adhere to solidarity and cooperation, abandon double standards, and help Afghanistan effectively combat all forms of terrorism.  "In light of the current situation, China believes that the council should make timely adjustments to the sanctions in order to facilitate pragmatic engagement between the international community and Afghanistan and to avoid negative impacts on the livelihood of Afghan people and the country's development." (Xinhua)