China says it is helping Afghanistan with defense, counterterrorism

China's defense ministry said on Thursday that it was supporting Afghanistan's defense and counterterrorism efforts, a day after Beijing denied a plan to build a base in Afghanistan and to send Chinese forces to the war-torn country. China's foreign ministry on Wednesday dismissed a report by the South China Morning Post that cited sources with ties to the military as saying it was funding construction of a camp in Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor linking the two countries, and could send hundreds of troops there. The Hong Kong newspaper later updated its report to quote Afghanistan's embassy in Beijing as saying China was helping the country set up a "mountain brigade" to boost counterterrorism efforts, but that there would be "no Chinese military personnel of any kind on Afghan soil at any time".

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