‘Future destruction of Afghanistan will harm all’

The UN Security Council and international communities, particularly those in the region, need to do more to bring the Taliban back to peace talks, the chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has said.

Shaharzad Akbar told BBC World News that countries within the region in particular needed to tell the Taliban that coming to power through violence would mean that their government would not be recognised if they continued “on this path of destruction and killing".

Taliban militants have continued to make rapid advances in the country, as the foreign troops withdraw.

The militants have captured large areas of countryside and are now targeting key cities.

US-backed peace talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have stalled.