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Russia is to equip its military base in Tajikistan, which neighbours Afghanistan, with 30 new tanks by the end of the year, the Interfax news agency reported.

Moscow has held military exercises in Tajikistan and expanded the hardware at the base, its biggest in a foreign country, since the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban's lightning takeover.

Russia is worried about the potential for fallout in the wider region and the possibility of Islamist militants infiltrating Central Asia, which Moscow sees as its southern defensive buffer.

Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan stretches for 1,344 km (835 miles), and much of it is mountainous and hard to police.

Interfax quoted Khanif Beglov, tank unit commander of Russia's Central Military District, saying 30 modern tanks would be stationed at the base by the end of the year to replace older combat vehicles. (Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke for 90 minutes on Thursday, in their first talks in seven months, discussing the need to ensure that competition between the world's two largest economies does not veer into conflict.

The U.S. side said the "proof will be in the pudding" as to whether the stalemate can be broken with ties between the superpowers languishing at their lowest point in decades.

In a statement, the White House said Biden and Xi had "a broad, strategic discussion," including areas where interests and values converge and diverge. The conversation focused on economic issues, climate change and COIVD-19, a senior U.S. official told reporters.

"President Biden underscored the United States' enduring interest in peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world and the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict," the White House added.

Occasional high-level meetings since Xi and Biden's first call in February have yielded scant progress on issues ranging from human rights to transparency over the origins of COVID-19.

In the months since, the two sides have lashed out at each other almost constantly, often with vitriolic public attacks, sanctions on officials and criticism over not upholding international obligations.

Chinese state media said Xi had told Biden that U.S. policy on China imposed "serious difficulties" on relations, but added that both sides agreed to maintain frequent contact and ask working-level teams to step up communications.

"China and the United States should ... show strategic courage and insight, and political boldness, and push Sino-U.S. relations back to the right track of stable development as soon as possible," state media said, citing Xi.

Asian currencies and share markets strengthened, as investors speculated that the call could bring a thaw in ties between the two most important trading partners of regional economies.

Xi said that if "core concerns" on both sides were respected, diplomatic breakthroughs could still be made in the area of climate change, adding that the issue could add "positive factors" to the relationship.

During a visit to China by Biden's top climate envoy John Kerry last week, senior diplomat Wang Yi said climate change was an "oasis" in China-U.S. relations but it could not be separated from broader disputes.

'PROOF WILL BE IN THE PUDDING'

The Biden administration, preoccupied by a chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, has signaled that ending America's longest war will give U.S. political and military leaders the space to tackle more pressing threats from China's rapid rise.

But Beijing has been quick to seize on the U.S. failure in Afghanistan to try to portray the United States as a fickle partner.

Last month, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington should not expect China's cooperation on that or other issues if it was also trying to "contain and suppress" China.

The senior U.S. administration official told reporters before the call that Washington had been disappointed that Chinese officials appeared only willing to read talking points during recent high-level talks.

The official added that the U.S. side saw the leaders' call as a test of whether direct engagement with Xi could end what had become a stalemate in ties.

"This is about seeing if there is an ability to engage more substantively than we've been able to ... the proof will be in the pudding," the official said after the call, describing the tone as candid, but respectful.

But the official also acknowledged that the United States' ability to change China's behavior may be limited, and that Washington must largely focus on shoring up competitiveness and rallying partners and allies.

Successive U.S. administrations have complained that Beijing has sought to use endless dialogue as a delaying tactic, frustration with which ultimately led Washington to end an annual U.S.-China dialogue mechanism.

Even so, the official said Biden had not planned to raise the prospect of U.S. retaliatory action or "costs" if China refused to co-operate on a range of issues, including investigations into the origin of COVID-19.

Beijing denies the U.S. accusation that it has not co-operated with the pandemic source investigation.

The U.S. official said it would require a "training period" for the Biden administration to convince Chinese leaders, who are preparing for an important Communist Party congress next year, that Beijing's stance would not pay dividends.

"We also think that essentially Beijing's actions are quieter than their words," the official said. "Their responses to our actions have actually been largely symbolic and frankly their hard line rhetoric isn't really working." (Reuters)

Vietnam plans to reopen the beach-fringed island of Phu Quoc to foreign tourists from next month, authorities said, as the country looks at ways to revive an economy suffering from extended lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The island, 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Cambodia, is expected to open for a trial period of six months, the government said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

Vietnam, which is currently shut to all visitors apart from returning citizens and investors, had managed to contain the virus for much of the pandemic but in the past three months has faced a surge in infections driven by the Delta variant.

"The prolonged pandemic has seriously hurt the tourism industry," Vietnam's tourism and culture minister Nguyen Van Hung said.

Fully vaccinated tourists with a negative coronavirus test will be eligible to visit Phu Quoc, the statement said, adding they could fly to the island on chartered or commercial flights.

Foreign arrivals to Vietnam slumped from 18 million in 2019, when tourism revenue was $31 billion, or nearly 12% of its gross domestic product, to 3.8 million last year.

At the same time, lockdowns in recent months have prompted companies to suspend operations. August industrial output fell 7.4% from a year earlier, while exports were down 5.4% and retail sales plunged by 33.7%.

Vietnam will fully vaccinate all residents on Phu Quoc before opening, the tourism ministry said, adding that the island had not reported any community infections and had sufficient COVID-19 quarantine and treatment facilities.

Neighbouring Thailand has already partially reopened to foreign tourists, including on the resort island of Phuket, where about 70% of the population were required to be vaccinated.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conceded this month that Vietnam was facing a lengthy battle against the coronavirus, which has infected over 570,000 people and killed 14,400, so could not just rely on lockdowns and quarantine. read more

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry said on Thursday Ho Chi Minh City, the epicentre of the latest outbreak, has allowed restaurants to offer takeaway meals and shippers to operate more widely in a slight relaxation of a tough lockdown. (Reuters)

Two hundred foreigners in Afghanistan, Americans among them, are set to depart on charter flights from Kabul on Thursday after the new Taliban government agreed to their evacuation, a U.S. official said.

The departures will be among the first international flights to take off from Kabul airport since the Islamist militia seized the capital in mid-August, triggering the chaotic U.S.-led evacuation of 124,000 foreigners and at-risk Afghans.

The flights come two days after the Taliban announced an interim government made up of mainly ethnic Pashtun men, including wanted terror suspects and Islamist hardliners, dashing international hopes for a more moderate administration.

The Taliban were pressed to allow the departures by U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. official said, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The official could not say whether the American civilians and other foreign nationals were among people stranded for days in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif because their private charters had not been allowed to depart.

The announcement of a new government on Tuesday was widely seen as a signal the Taliban were not looking to broaden their base and present a more tolerant face to the world, as they had earlier suggested they would do.

All of the ministers are men, and nearly all are Pashtuns, the ethnic group that predominates in the Taliban's southern Afgan heartland but accounts for less than half the country's population.

Foreign countries greeted the interim government with caution and dismay on Wednesday. In Kabul, dozens of women took to the streets in protest and several journalists covering the demonstration said Taliban fighters detained and beat them.

The new Taliban Interior Ministry later said that to avoid disturbances and security problems, anyone holding a demonstration should apply for permission 24 hours in advance.

Protests by both women and men were being curtailed because there was a security threat from Islamic State fighters, said a Taliban minister who declined to be identified. Any attack on journalists would be investigated, he said.

QUESTIONS OVER RECOGNITION

Many critics called on the leadership to respect basic human rights and revive the economy, which faces collapse amid steep inflation, food shortages and the prospect of foreign aid being slashed as countries seek to isolate the Taliban.

The Taliban government wanted to engage with regional and Western governments and to work with international aid organisations, the Taliban minister said.

But White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said no one in the Biden administration "would suggest that the Taliban are respected and valued members of the global community".

The European Union voiced its disapproval at the appointments. It was ready to continue emergency humanitarian assistance, but longer-term development aid would depend on the Taliban upholding basic freedoms.

Saudi Arabia expressed hope the new government would help Afghanistan achieve "security and stability, rejecting violence and extremism". read more

Analysts said the make-up of the cabinet could hamper recognition by Western governments, which will be vital for broader economic engagement.

The new acting Cabinet includes former detainees of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. The interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is wanted by the United States on terrorism charges and carries a reward of $10 million, while his uncle, with a bounty of $5 million, is the minister for refugees and repatriation.

NOT CRICKET

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns discussed Afghanistan in talks in Pakistan with army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and military intelligence head Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, Pakistan's military said.

Afghanistan's ousted U.S.-backed government for years accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban. While officially denying that, Pakistan has long seen the Taliban as its best option for minimising the influence of old rival India in Afghanistan.

The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were banned from work and education. The group carried out public executions and its religious police enforced a radical interpretation of Islamic law.

Taliban leaders have pledged to respect people's rights, including those of women, in accordance with sharia Islamic law, but have yet to provide details of the rules they intend to enforce. Afghans who have won greater freedoms over the past two decades fear losing them.

In an interview with Australia's SBS News, a senior Taliban official said women would not be allowed to play cricket - a popular sport in Afghanistan - or possibly any other sport because it was "not necessary" and their bodies might be exposed.

Australia's cricket board said it would scrap a planned test match against the Afghanistan men's team if the Taliban did not allow women to play. (Reuters)