Britain says wants to engage with Taliban

Britain will not recognise the Taliban as the new government in Kabul but must deal with the new realities in Afghanistan and does not want to see the social and economic fabric of the country broken, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday.

Speaking during a visit to Pakistan he said it would not have been possible to evacuate some 15,000 people from Kabul without some degree of cooperation with the Taliban, who seized Kabul on Aug. 15.

"We do see the importance of being able to engage and having a direct line of communication," he said.