UK will work with Taliban if necessary, says Prime Minister Boris Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UKs diplomatic efforts to find a solution in Afghanistan remain ongoing which leaves open the prospect of working with the Taliban if necessarySpeaking to the media after an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms COBRA meeting to discuss the crisis in the region on Friday Johnson said iquestformidableiquest challenges remain around the evacuation of British nationals and supporters from Kabul airport but the situation was getting slightly betterWhat I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan working with the Taliban of course if necessary will go on and our commitment to Afghanistan is lasting Johnson saidThe situation is getting slightly better and we are seeing a stablisation at the airport So yesterday Thursday we were able to get out about 1000 people and today Friday another 1000 people a lot of those UK eligible persons coming back to this country and a lot of them people coming back under the Afghanistan Resettlement and Assistance Programme ARAP interpreters and others to whom we owe debts of gratitude and honouriquest he said adding that the operation will continue at a fast paceSo the operation is becoming faster but Im not going to pretend that its easy The logistical challenges are formidable and they are doing an outstanding job in very difficult circumstances he saidAlso read India very important in dealing with Afghan crisis says UKJohnson also defended his Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab who has come under fire from the Opposition over a missed phone call with his Afghan counterpart in the now fallen Ashraf Ghani government at the peak of the crisis last weekend He said he absolutely had full faith in the Cabinet minister adding I can tell you that the whole of the government has been working virtually round the clock hitting the phones to do what we can to sort it out to deal with a situation that has been long in gestation and to make sure that we get as many people back as possiblePressed on whether he believed suggestions from the new Taliban regime in charge that it may be more moderate in the future Johnson said that it was important to take people at face valueWe hope they mean what they say But again as I said in the House of Commons and I think that this is the position of everybody from the President of the United States President Macron of France German Chancellor Angela Merkel everybody that I talked to iquest everybody is agreed that we will judge them on their actions and that is the important thing he saidSince last Saturday the UK says has evacuated 1615 people including 399 British nationals and their dependants 320 embassy staff and 402 Afghan nationals who worked for the UK government in AfghanistanMeanwhile the government has announced 5 million pounds for local councils in England Scotland and Wales offering to house Afghans who have arrived under the ARAP programme Under the scheme Afghans who face threats from the Taliban having worked for the UK in Afghanistan have been allowed to come to BritainThis 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