Taliban tells US to stop evacuating skilled Afghans
Kabul: Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said the Islamist militant group will not tolerate the extension of evacuation by US-led NATO forces and also told the US to stop evacuating the skilled Afghans.
Addressing a press conference in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, Mujahid also said the female Afghan government workers should stay home until security conditions in the country improve, reported AFP
At least 50,000 foreigners and Afghans have fled the country from Kabul's airport terrified by the return of the Taliban to power, according to the US government.
US-led troops have intensified operations to evacuate thousands of people out of Kabul, after the Taliban warned against attempts to continue withdrawals beyond August 31, said the report.
Meanwhile, President Biden said the evacuation will be finished as per the pre-fixed schedule, but faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the evacuations.
Afghans are afraid of repetition of the brutal interpretation of sharia law in their country that the Taliban enforced when it ruled during 1996-2001, or retribution for working with the US-backed government over the past two decades.
So far, Taliban have been surprisingly tolerant about the evacuation efforts by the US-led forces as well as other countries who had diplomatic ties with the democratically-elected government of the country.
However, the Taliban has warned against the extension and said it will be viewed as "extending occupation", AFP reported.
Mujahid also said Americans were taking "Afghan experts" such as engineers out of Afghanistan, it added.
"We ask them to stop this process," he said.
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