UK in talks with Taliban to allow safe passage out of Afghanistan

Britain is in direct talks with the Taliban over securing safe passage out of Afghanistan for UK nationals and Afghans who have worked for Britain, a government spokesperson said late on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's special representative for Afghan transition, Simon Gass, travelled to Doha, Qatar, to meet with Taliban representatives, the spokesperson said in a statement.

"(Gass) is meeting with senior Taliban representatives to underline the importance of safe passage out of Afghanistan for British nationals, and those Afghans who have worked with us over the past twenty years," the statement said.

The defence secretary is understood to have told MPs that between 150-250 people eligible for relocation - plus their families - remain in the country.

It comes after a Taliban pledge to allow further departures.

On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said more than 17,000 people had been evacuated by the UK from Afghanistan so far, including over 5,000 UK nationals.

He also said the UK needed to face the changing situation in Afghanistan and work with other nations to exercise a "moderating influence" on the Taliban.

"The challenge now is to face the new reality, as difficult as it is, and to come up with a new plan that reflects it," Mr Raab told the BBC.

Former British ambassador to Afghanistan between 2010 and 2012 Sir William Patey said engaging with the Taliban could help prevent a refugee crisis and avoid the country becoming a host for terrorists.

"[The Taliban] know they can't run this country without help," he told BBC Two's Newsnight.

"If the Taliban are going to run a government and hold onto power as they want to do, they're going to have to engage as well. So we have some cards."

Dame Barbara Woodward, the UK's ambassador to the UN, said they would be judged "on the basis of their actions on the ground, not their words".

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday it is too early to decide if, and how, the government will work with the Taliban on tackling the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

"At this stage it is too early to dictate if and how we would work with the Taliban going forward," the spokesman said. "A lot will depend on their actions from now. As we have said throughout, we intend to put pressure on them to uphold these standards and claims."

The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power.

Britain's mission came to an end on Saturday, when its last military flight left Kabul after evacuating more than 15,000 people in the two weeks since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.