The Taliban are lying, France's foreign minister says

Reuters
Sat, 11 Sep 2021 06:09 UTC

© www.avapress.com/KJN

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian • Members of the Taliban

The Taliban are lying and France will not have any relationship with its newly-formed government, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said late on Saturday before heading for talks in Qatar on Sunday to discuss future evacuations from Afghanistan.

Le Drian said on France 5 TV:

"They said they would let some foreigners and Afghans leave freely and (talked) of an inclusive and representative government, but they are lying.

"France refuses to recognise or have any type of relationship with this government. We want actions from the Taliban and they will need some economic breathing space and international relations. It's up to them."

Paris has evacuated about 3,000 people and had held technical talks with the Taliban to enable those departures.

Le Drian, who is heading to the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday, said there were still a few French nationals and a few hundred Afghans with ties to France remaining in Afghanistan.

Comment: A rough road ahead for French and Afghanistan relations:

For the time being, France is not planning any relations with the radical Islamic Taliban ruling Afghanistan.

Paris - It is now up to the Taliban to keep their promises, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 5 on Saturday. "You are lying (with all your promises), and at the moment the results are not there." Le Drian emphasized: "We expect the Taliban to act."

Le Drian travels to Qatar on Sunday to speak about further evacuations after the chaotic international withdrawal from Afghanistan. There are still "a few French" who have to be flown out, as well as a few hundred Afghans who are threatened because they have ties to French institutions or are involved in areas that the Taliban hate, he said.

France had flown almost 3,000 people from Afghanistan in August, including 2,600 Afghans. After the international withdrawal, Qatar organized civil evacuation flights for numerous nations.

Qatar is a key player in the Afghanistan crisis. In the Gulf state, negotiations between the Taliban and the US government about a troop withdrawal from Afghanistan took place in 2020. Negotiations were later held in Qatar between the militia and the Afghan government at the time.