 Dominic Raab says the government is not confident that he knows how many people eligible to come to the UK remain in Afghanistan. Around 15,000 have been evacuated since the country fell to the Taliban. Addressing MPs, the foreign secretary said he would be leaving for the region later for talks on those left behind. He also admitted that the UK was caught out by the speed of the fall of Kabul with intelligence expecting it to hold until the end of the year. Raab made a comment during an appearance at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee where MPs grilled him on a number of aspects of the UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan last month. First of all, we do not recognise governments generally, but I think it's also important not to confer any legitimacy on the Taliban. At the same time, we do need to be able to send clear and direct signals. We've done that for some time via their political commission, which has been based in Doha. We now have Simon Gass, the Prime Minister's special envoy in the region, to ensure that we can do that and we want to have as much continuity in our diplomatic presence as possible. We want to be in a position when the safety and security allows to have a continuity diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, but clearly that's not possible right now. The Taliban has been clear it's made these assurances publicly. It will not give suckle haven to terrorist groups. The UN Security Council resolution back well up is important because although it was only acquiesced in by China and Russia, it is the beginning of the contours of a new set of parameters which will exercise greater pressure and hopefully maximum moderating leverage on the Taliban. But look, these are early days and we need to set credible and realistic tests of the Taliban and engage with them on the basis of whether or not they follow through. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.