UK seeks int'l consensus on Afghanistan

Britain plans to engage with Taliban 'on basis of what they do', says PM Johnson

The United Kingdom is seeking an international agreement on how to deal with the new regime in Afghanistan, and to ensure Taliban movement commits to allowing safe passage for Afghans and foreign nationals who want to leave the country.

After 20 years in Afghanistan, the UK's remaining troops pulled out of the country on Saturday, but it is still unclear how many people are left there who are eligible to come to Britain.

A combined statement published on Sunday by the UK and more than 90 other countries and organizations said assurances about safe passage had been received from the Taliban.

British media reported that most foreign forces stationed at the airport have now left, and the United States is racing to get its last troops out of the country before the Tuesday deadline set by US President Joe Biden.

The UK government has said previously that any decision on how the new regime in Afghanistan would be engaged with would be made in agreement with international partners.

Britain's foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, was due on Monday to take part in talks with representatives from Turkey and Qatar, along with G7 group counterparts and NATO officials, in a US-chaired video meeting, according to the UK's foreign office.

Foreign Office minister, James Cleverly, told BBC Breakfast on Monday that the Taliban would be judged on its actions.

"If (the Taliban) start acting like government, if they start facilitating both internal travel and exiting from Afghanistan, then we will engage with them on that basis," he said.

"But of course what we are not able to do, what no country is ever really able to do, is give an absolute cast-iron guarantee."

The opposition Labour Party shadow foreign affairs minister, Stephen Kinnock, on Monday accused the government of an "unforgivable "failure to evacuate thousands of eligible Afghans.

"We have to now face the reality, unpalatable as it is, that some cooperation is going to be required. What that means is cooperation with conditions," he told the BBC's Today radio program.

Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Sunday that the UK and its allies would "engage with the Taliban not on the basis of what they say but what they do". He suggested the Taliban could access frozen bank accounts if it guaranteed refugees would be able to seek asylum abroad.

"If the new regime in Kabul wants diplomatic recognition, or to unlock the billions that are currently frozen, they will have to ensure safe passage for those who wish to leave the country, to respect the rights of women and girls, to prevent Afghanistan from, again, becoming an incubator for global terror, because that would be disastrous for Afghanistan," the Press Association news agency quoted the prime minister as saying.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday that France, the UK and Germany are working on a United Nation's proposal on how further evacuations might proceed.

Macron said the resolution seeks to establish a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan.

In an interview on the French television channel TF1 on Sunday, Macron said discussions were ongoing to see "how flights could be re-established".

Macron said: "What we have proposed, and what we plan to bring to UN Security Council along with Britain and Germany is a solution that we have used before in other operations, which would involve creating a zone allowing people to arrive at that airport.

"It can mobilize the whole international community, and it also puts pressure on the Taliban."