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British PM names conditions for diplomatic recognition of Taliban

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, Johnson said

LONDON, August 30. /TASS/. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thinks the diplomatic recognition of the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) by the West is possible but the radical movement should fulfill a number of conditions.

"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 PA news agency quoted the prime minister as saying on Sunday.

"Together with our allies in America and Europe and around the world, we will engage with the Taliban not on the basis of what they say but what they do," the British prime minister said.

On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance, and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said he had stepped down to prevent any bloodshed and subsequently fled the country. Vice President Amrullah Saleh announced that, in the absence of the head of state, the constitution empowered him to become the caretaker president and urged the Afghan people to join the resistance against the Taliban. The armed resistance in the country’s Panjshir Province is led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of renowned guerilla commander Ahmad Shah Massoud (1953-2001). At present, Western nations are evacuating their citizens and embassy staff. Last weekend, the UK completed the evacuation of its citizens and many Afghans who assisted them over the past 20 years.