All news

Afghans have no reason to leave country for fear of Taliban — Russian envoy

"A stampede at the airport does not mean that all of the Afghan people are trying to flee," Dmitry Zhirnov pointed out

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Afghan citizens have no reason to leave the country for fear of the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov told Channel One on Monday.

"In any country, when the government changes - particularly, all of a sudden - some people prefer to leave. Not everyone has the opportunity to leave the country by helicopter like President Ghani and members of his close circle. People seek to leave based on their own assessments and fears. However, many of their fears are groundless. As far as I know, the Taliban told experts who cooperated with Western countries not to leave, saying they will work with them," he pointed out.

According to Zhirnov, many Afghans have families overseas. "There is a group of people [wishing to leave Afghanistan]. I think that their share is very low," the ambassador noted. "A stampede at the airport does not mean that all of the Afghan people are trying to flee," he added.

According to the Al Arabiya TV channel, members of the Taliban movement entered Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on Sunday, meeting no resistance, and started to take control of government buildings and police stations abandoned by government forces. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country. The Taliban announced later that they had taken control of all districts of the capital.