The Taliban has claimed the German Envoy to Afghanistan met with the Islamists on Thursday night and discussed keeping Kabul airport open as well as ‘the importance and necessity of positive interaction and mutual understanding’ with the new regime.
Spokesman Mohammad Naeem said Markus Potzel, Germany’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, met with a high-ranking Taliban official to discuss the crisis – making him the most senior Western official to have engaged in face-to-face talks since the takeover.
There are apparently mounting fears in Berlin that German nationals trapped in Afghanistan could be taken hostage and used as leverage for negotiations in Doha as the Islamists consolidate their astonishing seizure of power, sources told the Bild newspaper.
The fall of Kabul and the Taliban takeover of the country has sparked a frantic global effort to evacuate as many people as possible. It has also exposed fissures within the international community, with Western powers reluctant to formally recognising the new terror regime while China, Pakistan, and Russia keep diplomatic relations with the terrorist organisation open.
Naeem said on Twitter: ‘This evening, a meeting was held between Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and his accompanying delegation, and Markus Potzel, German Envoy to Afghanistan.
‘During the meeting, the current situation in Afghanistan, current developments, and the future situation were discussed. The German Envoy promised to continue and expand his humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. The meeting also discussed the importance and necessity of positive interaction and mutual understanding with the international community and keeping Kabul Airport active.’
G7 countries have expressed concern about the ‘significant loss of life and internal displacement in Afghanistan’, and urged the Taliban to protect civilians amid reports of violence against them, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement on Thursday night.
Mr Raab – who is facing calls to resign after failing to make a crucial phone call to protect Afghan interpreters while he was on a luxury holiday last week – added that Western powers were doing ‘everything possible’ to evacuate trapped foreign nationals and locals.
Amid reports that evacuation flights had left with only a handful of people on board, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace insisted that Britain has not flown any empty planes out of Kabul despite carnage at the airport and fears the Taliban are blocking access.
He told Times Radio: ‘Our people are getting through, we haven’t sent a single empty plane home. And I don’t think many other nations have. I can’t speak for other nations, obviously, but fundamentally, the key here is when we have a plane if we have a single empty seat, we will offer it to other nations.
‘We’ve taken out interpreters who work for Nato, for example, we’ve taken out fellow European or other… we took some Japanese people out recently who were in need, so we will use every space on our planes possible.’
