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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has highlighted the importance of engaging with the Taliban as he acknowledged the need “to face up to the new reality in Afghanistan”.

While not recognising the militant group as the government in Kabul, the cabinet minister pointed to the necessity of having “a direct line of communication” to discuss a range of pressing issues, including the safe passage of remaining British citizens and Afghan allies.

Speaking during a visit to Pakistan, Mr Raab said it would not have been possible to evacuate some 15,000 people without some degree of cooperation with the Taliban, who seized power after the withdrawal of US forces, ending a 20-year military intervention.

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What weapons were left behind in Afghanistan?

He told a news conference: “We need to face up to the new reality in Afghanistan.”

Pointing to the appointment of a new chargé d’affaires for Afghanistan based in Doha, Qatar, the foreign secretary said: “The approach that we are taking is we don’t recognise the Taliban as a government… but we do see the importance of being able to engage and have a direct line of communication.

“The reason being is clearly there are a whole range of issues that need to be discussed, including first and foremost at the moment the question of safe passage of British nationals and the Afghans who worked for the UK government.

“We need to be able to convey direct messages on these things. We need to be able to have that dialogue.”

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He added: “The Taliban has made a series of undertakings. Some of them are positive at the level of words, but we need to test them and see that they translate into deeds. We cannot do that unless we have at least some channel of dialogue.”

Mr Raab said the Taliban need to create a “safe and secure environment” to allow aid to reach people in Afghanistan.

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Taliban’s mock funeral for Western nations

He said: “No-one wants to see the economic and social fabric of Afghanistan collapse, I can’t see how that would be in the interest of the Taliban let alone ordinary Afghans, we certainly don’t want to see that happen

“We would be willing not to fund aid via the Taliban, but through the humanitarian organisations that operate inside Afghanistan – for that to happen there needs to be a safe and secure environment, so that’s an early test for the Taliban.

“But we’re willing to make sure we do our bit, along with the national community to fund the humanitarian agencies, the lifeline for ordinary Afghans, but there needs to be a safe environment for that.

“We’ll also support those regional partners, particularly like Pakistan who I can imagine is very concerned about the risk of numbers coming across the border, we want to make sure we can support those partners in the region [to] deal with that.

“That’s the holistic approach, the strategic approach we are taking.”

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UK thought Kabul would not fall in 2021

Mr Raab, who has faced criticism over his handling of the Afghanistan crisis, also insisted there was “common widespread surprise”, even among the Taliban, at the speed in which they had taken over Afghanistan.

He said: “The takeover I think it’s fair to say was faster than anyone anticipated, not just the United Kingdom or NATO allies, but I was talking with our friends here.

“And I suspect the Taliban and ordinary Afghans were taken by surprise.

“I think there was a common widespread surprise at the speed with which the consolidation of power happened.”

Mr Raab’s comments came as the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee launched an inquiry into the chaotic retreat from Afghanistan.

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Taliban celebrates as last US troops leave Kabul

Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said: “The fall of Kabul is a catastrophe for the Afghan people and for the reputation of those nations that were committed to its success.

“Our hasty withdrawal leaves a country in an acute humanitarian and human rights crisis.

“The Afghan people, who we worked alongside for many years, have been left at the mercy of the Taliban, a vicious fundamentalist group.”

He said that “big questions remain” and the inquiry aimed to provide “some much-needed clarity”.

“Lessons need to be learnt and the decisions the UK makes in the coming months will be crucial,” he added.

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Who is Shabana Mahmood – Britain’s first ever Muslim woman to become home secretary?

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Who is Shabana Mahmood - Britain's first ever Muslim woman to become home secretary?

Shabana Mahmood has become the first ever Muslim woman in British history to serve as home secretary.

After just over a year as justice secretary, which saw her decide to release some prisoners early to free up jail spaces, she will now be in charge of policing, immigration, and the security services.

The 44-year-old replaced Yvette Cooper, 10 years after she helped run Cooper’s failed Labour leadership campaign, and faces flag-waving anti-immigration protesters and the growing threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Raised in Birmingham and Saudi Arabia

Shabana Mahmood was born in Birmingham to parents from the Pakistani-administered region of Azad Kashmir.

Soon after they were born, they moved her and her twin brother to the Saudi Arabian city of Taif, where her father worked as a civil engineer and the family would make regular visits to religious sites in Mecca and Medina.

After seven years, they moved back to Birmingham and her father, still employed as a full-time engineer, bought a corner shop and became chairman of the local Labour Party.

She attended an all-girls grammar school and then Oxford University to study law at Lincoln College, where she was elected Junior Common Room president, with a vote from former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was in the year above her.

After university, she moved to London to train as a lawyer, specialising in professional indemnity for most of her 20s.

On a visit to Solihull Mosque, West Midlands, in August 2024. Pic: PA
Image:
On a visit to Solihull Mosque, West Midlands, in August 2024. Pic: PA

‘My faith is the centre point of my life’

At the age of 29 in 2010, she was elected MP for her home constituency of Birmingham Ladywood, a safe Labour seat, with a majority of just over 9%, which grew to 82.7% at its peak in the snap election of 2017.

Along with Rushanara Ali and Yasmin Qureshi, this made her one of Britain’s first female Muslim MPs.

In an interview with The Times, she said: “My faith is the centre point of my life and it drives me to public service, it drives me in the way that I live my life and I see my life.”

She held several shadow cabinet positions under Ed Miliband’s leadership, including shadow prisons and higher education minister, and shadow financial secretary to the treasury.

Being sworn in as justice secretary in July 2024. Pic: PA
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Being sworn in as justice secretary in July 2024. Pic: PA

Read more from Sky News
What a moment for Shabana Mahmood to take the helm
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Often described as ‘blue Labour’, Mahmood returned to the backbenches when Jeremy Corbyn took over as party leader in 2015, telling him as she refused a shadow cabinet position: “I’ll be miserable and I’ll make you miserable as well.”

She had chaired her now-predecessor Yvette Cooper’s failed campaign to beat him to the leadership.

During the Corbyn years, she was elected to the Parliamentary Labour Party’s National Executive Committee and as vice chairman of the party’s National Policy Forum.

When Mr Corbyn was replaced by Sir Keir Starmer, Ms Mahmood became national campaign coordinator and was tasked with preparing Labour for the next general election.

During her two-and-a-half years in that job, she is credited with helping Labour win the Batley and Spen by-election and helping Sir Keir recover from Labour’s defeat in Hartlepool – where the Conservatives won for the first time ever in 2021.

On a visit to HMP Bedford in July 2024. Pic: PA
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On a visit to HMP Bedford in July 2024. Pic: PA

At the opening of HMP Millsike in March. Pic: PA
Image:
At the opening of HMP Millsike in March. Pic: PA

Early prison release scheme and views on Gaza

Soon after becoming justice secretary and lord chancellor, Mahmood commissioned a report into the crumbling prison estate.

Carried out by one of her Conservative predecessors, David Gauke, it revealed they were practically full, and triggered a controversial decision to release more than 1,000 inmates early to ease pressure on the system.

The Ministry of Justice were forced to apologise after it emerged 37 prisoners had been released by mistake.

Holding a taser at an event to launch a taser trial in a male prison in Oxfordshire in July. Pic: PA
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Holding a taser at an event to launch a taser trial in a male prison in Oxfordshire in July. Pic: PA

She has also endorsed tougher immigration laws, announcing in August that foreign criminals will be deported after sentencing, and has been critical of their use of human rights lawyers, calling for reform of the European Convention on Human Rights as a result.

Answering questions on Asian grooming gangs, she previously told former Tory minister Michael Gove in The Spectator that there is “still a moment of reckoning” and an “outstanding question of why so many looked the other way”.

Shabana Mahmood shakes hands with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on 8 September. Pic Reuters
Image:
Shabana Mahmood shakes hands with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on 8 September. Pic Reuters

She has also been vocal on Labour’s stance on Gaza, warning the prime minister that “British Muslims are feeling a very strong sense of pain” and that the government would have to rebuild their trust.

When she was last re-elected in 2024, she suffered a 42% drop in her majority, facing off an independent candidate whose campaign centred around Palestinian rights.

Like her parliamentary neighbour, Labour MP Jess Phillips, she said the election campaign had been “sullied by harassment and intimidation”.

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HSBC, ICBC eye Hong Kong stablecoin licenses under new regime: Report

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HSBC, ICBC eye Hong Kong stablecoin licenses under new regime: Report

HSBC, ICBC eye Hong Kong stablecoin licenses under new regime: Report

HSBC and ICBC reportedly plan to apply for Hong Kong stablecoin licenses, with ICBC and Standard Chartered expected to secure first-round approvals.

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Backpack EU begins operations with CySEC-approved derivatives platform

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Backpack EU begins operations with CySEC-approved derivatives platform

Backpack EU begins operations with CySEC-approved derivatives platform

Backpack EU, owner of the former FTX EU, launches a regulated perpetual futures platform in Europe after settling with the Cyprus regulator and securing a MiFID II license.

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