‘We will not forget about you’

NATO allies face tough questions about what went wrong in Afghanistan but will not forget the Afghans left behind, nor the fight against terror, the organisation’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Speaking after the last US military flight left Kabul, Mr Stoltenberg warned the Taliban not to stop Afghans trying to flee the country.

After 20 years of fighting, the hardline Islamists are back in charge of the vast majority of Afghanistan and celebrating victory over the collapsed Western-backed government.

But Mr Stoltenberg insisted all was not lost for the allies, as their intervention had prevented terrorist groups from launching attacks from Afghanistan on Western targets.

Now, however, he stressed the need for Kabul’s new leaders to work with the international community to reopen their airport, allow Afghans who worked with the allies safe passage and to keep a lid on extremist groups.

“It’s essential to keep the airport open, both to enable humanitarian aid to the Afghan people and also to make sure we can continue to get people out,” he said, adding: “We will not forget them.”

The Taliban leaders are in talks with Turkey and Qatar to take a role in running the airport, the scene in recent weeks of an extraordinary exodus of desperate refugees and US and allied troops.