UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Friday said it is important to engage with the Taliban Government in Afghanistan for a range of reasons, including the safe passage of British citizens, but dismissed talks of recognising it officially as “premature”.
Addressing a joint press conference in Islamabad alongside Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Raab, who is Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, said it would not have been possible to evacuate some 15,000 people from Kabul without some degree of cooperation from the Taliban.