U.S. should withdraw troops, contractors before Aug. 31 deadline: Taliban official

-- A Taliban spokesman said the United States should withdraw all troops and contractors before Aug. 31 deadline and no extension for the ongoing evacuation would be possible;

-- He reassured that no one is on the Taliban's reprisal list;

-- The spokesman said the Taliban does not want foreign embassies in Kabul to shut down or stop work, and has assured them of security.

"There will be no extension for the ongoing evacuation," Mujahid told reporters at an ongoing press conference.

"We want them to evacuate their citizens, they have planes and the Kabul airport control is with them, the U.S. should withdraw all its troops, people or contractors before the deadline," he said.

The spokesman said Afghan citizens will not be allowed to leave the country by the ongoing U.S. evacuation process after the deadline.

He asked the United States to stop taking "Afghan experts" out of Afghanistan. "We ask them to stop this process."

He also called on the Afghans thronging at the Kabul airport trying to flee Afghanistan to go home. "We guarantee their security."
 

"We are not in favor of Afghans to leave," he later said.

Mujahid also reassured that no one is on the Taliban's reprisal list. "We have forgotten everything in the past," he said.

Mujahid said the Taliban does not want foreign embassies in Kabul to shut down or stop work, and has assured them of security.

The Taliban is meeting with officials from various foreign embassies including the U.S. embassy to maintain diplomatic relations, Mujahid said, but he could not confirm that Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar had met with U.S. CIA director William Burns.

On the Panjshir situation, the spokesman said the group seeks to resolve it through dialogue.