Afghanistan crisis: Senior Taliban leader said to be in Kabul 'negotiating with political leaders'

Senior Taliban leader Amir Khan Muttaqi is said to be in Afghanistan's capital negotiating with Kabul's political leadership.

Those involved in the talks include Abdullah Abdullah, who once headed the country's negotiating council, and former President Hamid Karzai.

That is according to an official familiar with the talks and who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Mr Muttaqi was a higher education minister when the Taliban last ruled and he began making contacts with Afghan political leaders even before Afghan President Ashraf Ghani secretly slipped away from the Presidential Palace on the weekend.

The president's departure left a devastating vacuum that Taliban who were surrounding the city strode in to fill.

The official says the talks underway in the Afghan capital are aimed at bringing other non-Taliban leaders into the government that Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen has said will be an "inclusive Afghan government."

There is little indication about the substance of the talks, but Mr Shaheen earlier told The Associated Press that a government will be announced after negotiations with non-Taliban leaders are completed.

UK military personnel prior to boarding an RAF Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, as part of a 600-strong UK-force sent to assist with the operation to rescue British nationals in Afghanistan.

Afghans familiar with the talks say some rounds have gone late into the night and have been underway since soon after Mr Ghani's departure.

Yesterday US President Joe Biden said that he stands “squarely behind” the decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, adding that the collapse of the administration "was quicker than anticipated".

Mr Biden said he was faced with a choice between sticking to a previously negotiated agreement to withdraw US troops this year or sending thousands more service members back into Afghanistan for a "third decade" of war.

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