‘No extension of evacuation date’

THE Taliban expect foreign evacuations from Kabul to be completed by the end of the month, the Islamist group’s main spokesman said on Tuesday (24), urging Afghans to stay to help rebuild their country.

Zabihullah Mujahid said the movement had not agreed to an extension of an August 31 deadline, which he said had been agreed with the United States to pull out of Afghanistan.

“The extension was unilateral by the ... United States,” he said, apparently referring to a comment by Biden last week that US troops may stay beyond next Tuesday (31).

“It was a violation of the agreement. We want them to evacuate all foreign nationals by August 31,” Mujahid said, according to his translator. “And we are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave.”

It was not clear whether the comment indicated that there would be a formal ban on Afghans leaving the country.

He said crowds outside the airport could go home and their security would be guaranteed. He called on the US not to encourage educated and trained Afghans to leave.

“We need their expertise,” Mujahid said, adding that once security was re-established, women would be able to return to work as normal.

He also denied reports that Taliban patrols were conducting house-to-house searches to find targets for reprisals, saying: “We have forgotten everything in the past.”

Mujahid repeated that the Taliban wanted good diplomatic relations with other countries and wanted foreign embassies to remain open.