British officials have opened talks with the Taliban about getting UK citizens and allies out of Afghanistan, it emerged last night. 'I would just say that since April when we have been planning and instituting this, over 17,000 British nationals, Afghan workers, vulnerable special cases are out. 'I know that the number of UK nationals, the particular responsibility of the Foreign Office, is now down at a very low level.' I can tell you that for UK nationals we've secured since April over 5,000, and we're in the low hundreds (remaining).' It is unclear how many of those British nationals who are still in the country have decided to stay of their own volition.

Source: The Nation August 31, 2021 22:52 UTC