Washington. August 13. INTERFAX - The Government of Canada will send a special forces unit to Kabul, which will ensure the safety of employees of the Canadian embassy during its evacuation and before closing, the Associated Press reported, citing an informed source.
Earlier, Washington announced the sending of 3 thousand military personnel to Kabul to ensure the safe evacuation of part of its embassy, and about 600 military personnel are being sent to London for the same purpose.
According to the US State Department, in a telephone conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Minister Lloyd Austin assured that in the conditions of the offensive of the Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation), the US continues to provide assistance to the Afghan government.
At the same time, Blinken "confirmed that the United States remains committed to supporting a political settlement of the conflict."
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrel, also appealed to the parties to the Afghan conflict for a political settlement of the conflict.
At the same time, the leaders of the Afghan Taliban movement said that they do not intend to negotiate with the Afghan authorities as long as Ghani is in office, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said earlier.
"The condition is as follows: as long as Ashraf Ghani holds the post of president of Afghanistan, we (the Taliban) are not going to have a dialogue with the Afghan government, "Khan quoted the Taliban leaders as saying.
According to him, it is extremely difficult to resolve the conflict by political means now.
According to media reports, the Taliban militants continue their active offensive. The Associated Press reported that on Thursday the Taliban captured the second and third largest cities of Afghanistan after Kabul - Kandahar and Herat. The Taliban currently controls 12 of the 34 provincial capitals of Afghanistan.
