Islamabad: The Taliban has decided to extend the August 31 deadline for the evacuation mission carried out by foreign forces’, and for the withdrawal of foreign troops itself, by saying that remaining outside the announced date will have a “consequence”.
Taliban’s troops have, meanwhile, reclaimed three districts, adjacent to the unbeaten Panjshir valley, which had fallen last week to the National Resistance (NRF), the anti-Taliban resistance movement in North Afghanistan.
Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman for the political office, urged Afghans to stay and rebuild their country instead of escaping.
“We will not prevent those who want to leave if they have the right documentation,” Shaheen said in an interview with the BBC on Monday.
He said people could still leave commercial flights after expiration of deadlines to leave.
“We don’t put obstacles on their way if they have passports released – they can use commercial flights anytime.
We want them to live in the country but if they intend to go, they can …
if they have the right documents,” Said Taliban representatives based in Doha.
He described staying outside August 31 as a violation of the agreement and said there would be a “consequence” if foreign forces failed to meet the deadline.
Without describing what is actually meant by “consequences”, Shaheen said decisions in this case will be made by the Taliban leadership.
Previously, the Taliban said that foreign troops lived in Afghanistan after August 31 will cross the “red line”.
After Shaheen’s statement, the British Prime Minister’s office said England would continue the evacuation as long as it was safe to do.
The British PM office said the evacuation process would be included in the discussion at the G7 member meeting on Tuesday.
The evacuation of people has been described as a challenging mission, with thousands of Afghans trying to escape Afghanistan a week after the Taliban confiscated the control of the country.
At Kabul airport on Monday, the German military claimed that a member of the Afghan security forces was killed and three injured in a shootout between unknown armed men and German guards, Germany and Afghanistan.
The battle that occurred in the morning at the northern gate of the airfield underlined the fragile security situation around the location.
In the Taliban reclaimed three districts adjacent to Panjshir Valley, Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, posted on Twitter: “Bannu, Pul-e-Aperah Regency and one of Baghlan Province has been fully cleaned from the enemy.” He added: “The Mujahideen is placed at the Panjshir gate from the direction of Takhar, Badakhshan and Andab.
Pass Salang Open and the enemy is under the siege in Panjshir.
The Islamic Emirates tried to resolve the problem through the conversation.” Panjshir Valley, the mountainous area surrounded by the peak of Hindu Kush northwest Kabul, has opposed the Taliban before 2001.
Two Tajik leaders – Ahmad Massoud and Amrullah Saleh – have called warlords and Afghan forces to join them anti-Taliban resistance from Panjshir .
Massoud, the 32-year-old son of the warlord and Afghan politician Ahmad Shah Massoud, has led NRF.
Private militia members, the remnants of Afghan regular army and special forces units from the Afghan government who were overthrown had joined NRF.
He has called for negotiations to form an inclusive government but has promised to refuse if the Taliban troops tried to enter Panjshir.
Massoud was said to have collected around 9,000 fighters against the Taliban face.
Amrullah Saleh (48) was a challenging Afghan leader who had stated he acted as the President of the State after President Ashraf Ghani escaped from the entry of the Taliban dramatically to Kabul.
Saleh had asked his followers to meet in Panjshir to fight the Taliban.
Saleh has been a member of the Alliance Northern Anti-Taliban in the 1990s along with Massoud’s father.
“Talibs (Taliban) have grown troops near Panjshir a day after they are trapped in the ambush zone in Andab Valley’s neighbor and hardly come out in one part,” Saleh said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, he said, Jalan Highway has been closed by resistance forces.
“There is a field that must be avoided,” Saleh warned.