The UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab said his country will not recorgnise the Taliban, but sees scope for dialogue.
Raab’s statements came during a diplomatic mission to Qatar to ensure the safe passage of the Britons and Afghans left behind.
At a press conference in the Qatari capital, Doha, after meeting the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Raab said a “direct engagement” was required with the Taliban.
“The reality is we will not be recognising the Taliban any time in the foreseeable future but I think there is an important scope for engagement and dialogue,” he said.
Raab has been under fire over the past few weeks over his handling of the events in Afghanistan.
However, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace struck back at Mr Raab’s assertion, telling the Spectator magazine “it’s not about failure of intelligence, it’s about the limits of intelligence”.
Wallace also said he was arguing back in July that “the game is up”. He added that Britain should be accelerating its efforts in Afghanistan.
“It was a bit of a shock when Herat fell. Some of these big places had historically been resistant to the Taliban. When they fell, literally without a fight, I think the game came to an end,” he said in the interview.
“I remember back in July arguing that whatever we think, the game is up. We have to do what we can to accelerate whatever we’re doing.”
Despite those apparent warnings, Raab holidayed in Crete as the Taliban has captured Afghanistan last month.
