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Kabul, Afghanistan | Xinhua | The United States should withdraw all troops and contractors before Aug. 31 deadline from Afghanistan and no extension for the ongoing evacuation process would be possible, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Tuesday.
“There will be no extension for the ongoing evacuation,” Mujahid told reporters at a press conference.
“We want them to evacuate their citizens, they have planes and the Kabul airport control is with them now, the U.S. should withdraw all its troops, people or contractors before the deadline,” he said.
The spokesman said Afghan citizens will not be allowed to leave the country by the ongoing U.S. evacuation process after the deadline.
“We are not in favor of Afghans to leave, we are not happy with departure of Afghans,” he said, adding “the crowds have not been cleared outside the airport. We want the Americans to bring changes in their policy of encouraging Afghans to leave.”
He asked the United States to stop taking “Afghan experts” out of Afghanistan. “We ask them to stop this process.”
He also called on the Afghans thronging around the Kabul airport trying to flee Afghanistan to go home. “We guarantee their security.”
Mujahid also reassured that no one is on the Taliban’s reprisal list. “We have forgotten everything in the past,” he said.
As to the widely concerned women’s rights to study and work, Mujahid said the Taliban is working on a procedure so that women can work in the future. He also urged female Afghan government workers to stay at home before Afghanistan’s security situation improves.
Mujahid said the Taliban does not want foreign embassies in Kabul to shut down or stop work, and has assured them of security.
The Taliban is meeting with officials from various foreign embassies including the U.S. embassy to maintain diplomatic relations, Mujahid said, but he could not confirm that Taliban political chief Abdul Ghani Baradar had met with U.S. CIA director William Burns.
On the Panjshir situation where the last resistance holds, the spokesman said the Taliban seeks to resolve it through dialogue.
U.S.-led troops have been ramping up the evacuation of foreigners and Afghans out of Afghanistan as the deadline looms. About 50,000 foreigners and Afghans have left the country from the Kabul airport during the past nine days, the U.S. government said.
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Xinhua
