Last Updated on December 26, 2020 at 3:25 pm
According to diplomats and security officials in the West Asian region, Afghanistan has blown up a 10 member Chinese module running a terror cell in the capital city of Kabul.
For Beijing, which has been trying to convince the Ashraf Ghani government to cover the case, the crackdown has come as a major embarrassment, people familiar with the matter in Kabul and New Delhi said.
The 10 Chinese people recently detained in this connection by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of Afghanistan on charges of spying and operating a police force. It is suspected that terror cells are linked to China’s intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security.
The NDS crackdown began on 10 December.
This is the first time in years that Chinese nationals have been caught spying in Afghanistan, where the nation was looking to extend its reach rapidly even as the United States withdrew its troops.
A senior diplomat in Kabul said that at least two of the 10 Chinese nationals were in contact with the Haqqani Network, the militant organization that doubles as the Taliban’s sword arm.
President Ashraf Ghani was briefed on the arrests and allowed First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, a former head of the Afghan intelligence agency, to supervise the investigation and engage the Chinese in view of the sensitivities involved, the individuals cited in the first instance added.
