Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak held talks in Beijing on Tuesday, vowing to strengthen military cooperation between the two armed forces.

 

Cao said the Chinese side attaches great importance to the development of relations between the two countries and the two armed forces.

 

He said China will continue to help the reconstruction of Afghanistan and promote exchanges and cooperation with the Afghan side in various fields.

 

Wardak said Afghanistan and China shared a long history of friendly relations, adding the Afghan side will strengthen exchanges with China to further bilateral cooperation in security and other fields.

 

He said he was very glad to visit so many places of China and he had found a lot that Afghanistan can learn from China.

 

Wardak said the two countries faced the same task of anti-terrorism and he hoped the two sides strengthen cooperation in this aspect.

 

Wardak, who started his official good-will visit to China last Thursday as Cao's guest, had visited northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and will proceed to visit Shanghai, China's business hub.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)