UK negotiates with Taliban to evacuate British and Afghan nationals

Special envoy to Doha to negotiate with the Taliban to ensure a safe passage out of Afghanistan for the remaining British citizens and allies.

The UK has opened negotiations with the Taliban to ensure a "safe passage" out of Afghanistan for its nationals and Afghans already working for the UK government. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's special representative for the Afghan transition, Simon Gass, traveled to Doha, Qatar, to meet with representatives of the Taliban, according to a government statement on Tuesday evening.

Most of the senior Taliban leadership lived in exile in the Qatari capital until the overthrow of the Western-backed Afghan government after 20 years of war. 

Gass "met with senior representatives of the Taliban to emphasize the importance of safe travel out of Afghanistan for British citizens and Afghans who have worked with us for the past 20 years," the statement said. know. 

This is the first public statement of diplomacy between London and the Taliban since Britain joined the US in a massive airlift of more than 100,000 people out of the country following the surrender of Afghan troops. 

The Taliban have pledged to allow Afghans to come and go despite calls from the international community to honor this pledge in the days following the US withdrawal on Tuesday. 

More than 8,000 Afghans supporting NATO forces have left Afghanistan and the British government has said they will be allowed to stay indefinitely. 

But Johnson was criticized after many Afghans who supported NATO - and were eligible to move to Britain - were said to be trapped in Afghanistan, where they were at the hands of the Taliban. 

 An unnamed British minister told the Sunday Times he believes the UK may have evacuated "8001,000 more people" during the chaotic airlift. 

 The Johnson government sought to extend the US withdrawal deadline of August 31, but ultimately failed to convince President Joe Biden. 

 After the Taliban invaded Kabul in mid-August, the British Prime Minister stated that the Taliban should be judged by "actions rather than words" and asserted that the UK would not be able to stay in Afghanistan without its support. US aid.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was also criticized by the opposition Labor Party for not immediately leaving for a beach holiday when the Taliban took control.