Pashto-speaking Chinese welcome Afghan President's invitation

Chinese media practitioners, teachers and students, who have learned or are studying Pashto, Afghanistan's main language, welcomed the invitation extended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to Pashto-speaking Chinese to spend a part of their careers in the country.

During a recent interview with Xinhua, President Ghani expressed the hope that young Chinese learning Pashto and Dari will spend part of their career in Afghanistan and Afghans learning Chinese will become bridges with China and have part of their careers in China.

"We will be delighted that Chinese youth are learning Pashto and Dari," he said, adding that he himself has spent part of his career in China, referring to his experience of serving as a World Bank official to visit China several times.

President Ghani has just concluded a successful four-day state visit to China, the first country he visited since he took office in September.

Director Xi Meng of the Pashto Section of China Radio International told Xinhua that he was glad that President Ghani has extended the invitation.

"This will give me the chance to improve on my Pashto and my ability to understand Afghanistan and its people. Pashto has been playing a key role in my daily work ever since I graduated from the university around 10 years ago," Xi said.

Although China and Afghanistan are neighboring countries, majority of the Chinese people only know Afghanistan as a country plagued by the Taliban-induced violence and terrorism, with a slim understanding of the rich Afghan culture and language.

"But despite conflicts and violence, there is now more hope for peace and stability in this war-torn country. I am happy that Chinese and Afghan colleges have set up educational programs on each other's language," Xi said.

Xi said that in subways in Beijing he often heard Afghan students speaking Pashto, adding that it is a pity that Chinese students are unable to travel to Afghanistan for studies due to security reasons.

"I sincerely hope the country could achieve peace and national reconciliation so that Chinese students and investors could come to Afghanistan, which would definitely benefit both countries," Xi said.

The Pashto Class of Communication University of China (CUC), from which Xi Meng has learned the language, enrolls only about a dozen students once in every four years.

Shan Dan, a lecturer in Pashto at CUC, stressed the importance of education and people-to-people contact. "Education is always the driving force behind the development of a nation. As a scholar in Pashto language in China, I would like to contribute to the interaction between the two countries," Shan said.

Students and faculty members at the CUC have expressed great expectations of spending part of their academic life in Kabul to further improve their command of Pashto.

Jiang Zimin, the 20-year-old student in the CUC Pashto Class, told Xinhua that as one of the 13 students in the class, he was happy that President Ghani has realized the need to encourage the interest of Chinese youths to learn the Afghan language. "I am looking forward to exchange programs or job opportunities for Pashto-speaking Chinese in Afghanistan," Jiang said.

Liu Jingbo, Jiang's classmate, said that he hoped he and his classmates in the Pashto class could help bridge the language and cultural barrier between the two countries and contribute to a more harmonious relationship between the Chinese and Afghan people.

Two CUC Pashto class alumni, Wang Heng, a former Chinese diplomat, and Lin Jing, former correspondent in Xinhua's Kabul Bureau, have both worked more than a year in Kabul.

Both Wang and Lin have expressed hope that under the stewardship of President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan will be able to overcome its security and economic problems and finally achieve peace and prosperity.