China says ready for ‘friendly relations’ with Taliban

China on Monday said it is willing to develop “friendly relations” with the Taliban after the they seized control of Afghanistan.

“China respects the right of the Afghan people to independently determine their own destiny and is willing to continue to develop… friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan was over after they took control of the presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday after US-led forces departed and Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens.

President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as the Taliban entered the city, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.

“Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years,” Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, told Al Jazeera TV.

“Thanks to God, the war is over in the country.”

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as Afghan forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.