Militants must never attack West from Afghanistan: UK

Britain yesterday cautioned the Taliban that Afghanistan must never be used to launch terror attacks but added that the West must try to positively influence the insurgents who have grabbed power after the United States withdrew its forces. 

Britain fears the Taliban's return and the vacuum left by the West's chaotic withdrawal will allow militants from al Qaeda and Islamic State to gain a foothold in Afghanistan, just 20 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the West would have to be pragmatic in its relations with the Taliban, try to see if it could moderate the new rulers of Afghanistan and even try to convince them to be "inclusive".

"Our message is going to be this: Afghanistan must never be used to launch terrorist attacks against the West, we've had 20 years of success in that regard," Raab told Sky.

Told by a Sky reporter that the Taliban were a "red tag bunch of thugs", Raab said: "I'm not going to dissent from that view but they are now in power, and we now need to deal with that reality."

Raab said the position at Kabul airport was stabilising.

Nato's secretary general also yesterday said that international terrorism is a threat with the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan and the Western defence alliance "needs to stay vigilant to stay at the forefront of the fight" against it.

Jens Stoltenberg also told a news conference that the speed of the collapse of the Afghan National Army in the face of the Taliban's advance was a surprise, and there are lessons for Nato to draw from this, but the main focus today is to get vulnerable people out of the country.