Afghanistan released the 10 Chinese nationals captured on December 10 for operating a terrorist cell in the capital city of Kabul and allowed them to leave the country, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. The 10 members of the module were flown out of the country in a plane organized by the Chinese government.
The Hindustan Times had reported the arrest of the 10 Chinese citizens by the Afghanistan National Security Directorate (NDS) for being part of a spy module on December 25. Afghanistan had offered to pardon the 10 Chinese citizens on the condition that Beijing apologize for deploying the 10 people, including at least one woman, believed to be linked to China’s spy agency, the Chinese Ministry of Security. State.
The terms of the release of the 10 Chinese spies are unknown.
Diplomats and security officials in Kabul, however, confirmed to the Hindustan Times that the 10 were allowed to board a chartered plane that took them out of the country on Saturday after authorization from President Ashraf Ghani. The 10-member module, evacuated after 23 days in detention, had not been formally charged.
President Ghani, who had been briefed on the arrests when Afghanistan’s intelligence agency made the arrests beginning on December 10, had commissioned First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, a former NDS chief who is credited with resurrecting the agency of Afghan intelligence, to handle the case.
As expected, Amrullah Saleh, who posts suggestions from his security reports on his Facebook page, had posted what appeared to be a cryptic denial of the arrest of Chinese citizens on December 27.
“No foreign national has been arrested in an effort operation in the Khairkhaneh area. The detainees are the palmadis who are under the scope. Several of them have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in kidnapping and murder… ”said the First Vice President of Afghanistan.
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Amrullah Saleh had previously relayed Kabul’s offer to release the 10 spies to China’s envoy Wang Yu if Beijing presents a formal apology admitting violation of international norms and a betrayal of Kabul’s trust. It was learned that Ambassador Wang Yu insisted at this meeting that Kabul does not declare the arrests. An investigative report by an Australian newspaper in mid-December had already highlighted how members of the Chinese Communist Party had infiltrated some of the world’s powerful and influential agencies, including consulates of Western nations and security agencies. .
There has been no statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry regarding the detained spy module in Kabul.
A high-ranking diplomat in Kabul had previously told the Hindustan Times that at least two of the 10 Chinese citizens, Li Yangyang and Sha Hung, were in contact with the Haqqani Network, the terrorist group that functions as the Taliban’s sword arm. . Sha Hung used to have a restaurant in Kabul’s Shirpur, while it became known that Li Yangyang had been operating for Chinese intelligence since July-August.
The NDS team had seized weapons, ammunition, and powdered ketamine, a recreational drug, from Li Yangyang’s home in the Kart-e-Char neighborhood of western Kabul when the first round of raids were carried out. 10th of December.
The Afghan security establishment believes that the 10 detainees were creating a fake East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) module in Afghanistan to catch ETIM agents in Afghanistan.
ETIM is a small Islamic separatist group reportedly active in Xinjiang province, home to China’s Uighur Muslim ethnic minority. Its founder Hasan Mahsum, a Uyghur from the Kashgar region of Xinjiang, was shot dead in 2003 by Pakistani soldiers. Islamabad has been toying with China, which has been accused of running camps in the Xinjiang region, where more than 1 million people are being held in camps.
Human rights groups say China uses the ETIM threat as an excuse to impose restrictions on Uighurs and discredit human rights activists outside of China. Last month, the United States revoked the terror label placed on ETIM, although the group continues to be appointed by the UN Security Council.
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