Chinese arms for the Taliban. The suspicion began with a dossier put together by the British public television channel, the BBC, which spoke of “military material being found almost every week in possession of the Taliban in Afghanistan over the last few months”. This was followed on 29 August by the Foreign Office in London sending a formal note of protest to the foreign department in Beijing, asking why the Taliban were using Chinese arms against British troops in Afghanistan and if it was possible to find out if there was an organised arms trafficking ring operating.

 

Serious accusations against Beijing. In an informal meeting last week, representatives of the British diplomatic corps in Beijing asked for an explanation of the ever increasing number of Chinese ground-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft missiles found in the hands of the Taliban. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, replied in an official note that the arms trade involving Chinese companies was being carried out “in accordance with our laws and the international obligations we have made”. However, in at least two recent episodes the Taliban have sent messages to the Kabul government warning that they now have highly sophisticated military equipment. The list supplied to local police by the most recently arrested Taliban includes ground-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, light pistols, components for anti-tank bombs, bazookas and gas-propelled rockets with TNT warheads.

 

Ground-to-air and anti-aircraft missiles. “We know for certain that the Taliban have Chinese made HN-5 antiaircraft missiles”, an official from the Internal Ministry in Kabul explained to an English reporter, “but the worst thing is that we don’t know how they got into the country. The serial numbers have been removed from almost all the arms so we can’t find out who manufactured them, although we do know that the vast majority of them are brand new and undoubtedly Chinese”. An official from the Pentagon told “Fox News” that China is selling large quantities of arms to Iran, who are then exporting the bulk of these to Afghanistan and Pakistan for the struggle against America.

 

“ISI” certified arms. Chinese arms are easily the most common found in the south of Afghanistan and the ones used most by the Taliban, who get them from the Pakistan secret services, the ISI, which has for a long time been the main political and strategic sponsor of the Taliban. Despite this, however, Islamabad has for some time denied being involved in the Afghan equation, particularly since Pervez Musharraf signed up to the White House’s war against terrorism. Recently, Afghan intelligence services have pointed the finger at Teheran, accusing the Iranian secret services of having developed close ties with the Sunni Koranic students since 1998 in the common struggle against America, even though the two sides have not been on friendly terms since the massacre of five Iranian diplomats at Mazar-i Sharif.