Afghan citizens can’t leave anymore: Taliban

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Afghan citizens will not be allowed to leave the country any more by the ongoing US evacuation process while also warning that Washington should withdraw all troops and contractors before the August 31 deadline and no extension would be possibleMujahidrsquos remarks on Tuesday came as US President Joe Biden told G7 leaders that he aims to stick with his August 31 deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan as long as the Taliban does not disrupt the ongoing evacuation operations or airport accessAddressing a press conference here Mujahid said that while foreign nationals could continue travelling to the airport the huge crowds of Afghans that have gathered there in recent days should return home and would not face reprisals from the countryrsquos new rulersldquoThe road which goes to the airport is blocked Afghans cannot take that road to go to the airport but foreign nationals are allowed to take that road to the airportrdquo Mujahid said ldquoWe are not allowing the evacuation of Afghans anymore and we are not happy with it eitherrdquo he addedA Marine with Special Purpose Marine AirGround Task ForceCrisis ResponseCentral Command greets children during an evacuation at the Kabul airport Afghanistan on Tuesday PicAPPTIThe doctors and academics of Afghanistan ldquoshould not leave this country they should work in their own specialist areasrdquo Mujahid said adding ldquoThey should not go to other countries to those Western countriesrdquo He also said that ldquothere will be no extension for the ongoing evacuationrdquo process by the USlsquoWill reach a peace deal in PanjshirrsquoThe Taliban will reach a peace deal with resistance forces in the Panjshir province in near future the movementrsquos spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Wednesday ldquoWe are in contact with people of Panjshir We are in talks with the elders influencers and Jihadist commanders The talks will soon solve the problem without war I am 80 per cent confident that there will not be a need to go to war According to our information a peace agreement will be reached soonrdquo Mujahid told the Shamshad News outletlsquoTaliban looking for girls over 15 for marriagersquoIn a moving report a journalist who escaped from Afghanistan has described how life has taken a 180degree turn for Afghan women after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban Hollie McKay writing in The Dallas Morning News said the Taliban have been going housetohouse in the country looking for women and girls over 15 for marriagelsquoReligious scholars will lead the govtrsquoThe Taliban have said that religious scholars will lead the upcoming government in Afghanistan as the countryrsquos government collapsed over a week ago when the terror group seized Kabul a media report said At a gathering in Kabul the Taliban said that their 20 years of struggle should not go in vain and religious scholars should take the lead and be the core of the upcoming government in AfghanistanChinaTaliban hold 1st diplomatic meetChina has established its first diplomatic contact with the Taliban in Kabul after the militant group took control of Afghanistan and the two sides now have ldquounimpeded and effective communicationrdquo a Chinese official said on Wednesday The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15 two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly twodecade warThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever