Taliban warn US not to encourage Afghan elite to leave country

The Taliban on Tuesday warned the US against encouraging the Afghan elite to leave the country.

While speaking from Kabul on Tuesday, the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Washington should not encourage the Afghan elite to leave the country as the US has been evacuating some Afghans in recent days, Tolo News reported.

This comes as several countries including the US are evacuating their citizens and Afghans, who are at risk in Taliban-led Afghanistan.

Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 58,700 people while the country has re-located approximately 63,900 people since the end of July, the White House informed in a tweet.

Several Afghan politicians, former government workers, and journalists have left the country as they fear they will be targeted by the Taliban.

Mujahid also said that the Taliban are committed to resolving the problem in Panjshir peacefully, the only province left from the terror group's control.

The valley lies in the Hindu Kush mountains, approximately 90 miles north of Kabul. The Taliban have been unable to take this major holdout of resistance after steamrolling across pro-government troops in a matter of months.

He also mentioned that there have been no house-to-house searches as the Taliban already announced a general amnesty.

On August 15, the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul soon after President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan. The Taliban are also in talks with intra-Afghan leaders to form the government.

(ANI)