The Taliban’s spokesperson has claimed they will provide safe passage for Afghans but he ‘urges them to stay’.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Suhail Shaheen said people who want to leave the country must have the ‘right documents’.
It comes after huge crowds of people desperately tried to flee their new Taliban rulers at Kabul airport.
Dr Shaheen said: ‘We urge them to stay in Afghanistan as we have gained our independence.
‘It is time for all Afghans to build their country. Their capacity, their talents, are direly needed in this crucial time.’
But he added: ‘If they intend to travel abroad, that is their right.’
His comments are at odds with what another Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, told reporters little over a week ago.
He confirmed the road to the airport had been blocked for Afghans, adding: ‘We are not allowing the evacuation of Afghans anymore and we are not happy with it either.’
Mujahid said Afghanistan’s doctors and academics ‘should not leave this country, they should work in their own specialist areas’.
He added: ‘They should not go to other countries, to those Western countries.’
Meanwhile, UK officials are holding talks with the Taliban about securing safe passage for remaining British nationals and Afghans who helped them.
Downing Street confirmed Sir Simon Gass, the Prime Minister’s special representative for Afghan transition, has travelled to Qatar for talks with ‘senior Taliban representatives’, to again plea for people to be allowed to leave Afghanistan.
The Foreign Office also announced that 15 crisis response specialists are being flown to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to help British diplomats trying to help people escape Afghanistan over land borders before eventually reaching the UK.
They are set to arrive within 48 hours, and will focus on helping UK nationals, interpreters and other Afghans who were employed by the UK – as well as those Afghans judged most at risk.
The USA withdrew its final soldiers earlier this week.
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