The CIA chief met with Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in Afghanistan on Monday: The Washington Post

 The CIA chief met with Taliban leader Mullah Baradar in Afghanistan on Monday: The Washington Post

• US President Joe Biden has sent a senior spy to meet with the Taliban leader.
• The United States and its allies are pushing for a full withdrawal by the August 31 deadline.
• The number of people fleeing Afghanistan on US flights since July is 53,000.

WASHINGTON: Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met secretly with Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, according to the Washington Post.

The meeting, if confirmed, is the highest-level diplomatic confrontation between the United States and insurgents since the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital last week.

The Post quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying that the CIA chief met with Mullah Baradar in Kabul on Monday as the Biden administration sought to evacuate U.S. citizens and other allies during the chaos at Kabul airport. Ongoing.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

CIA and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Burns is one of Biden's most experienced diplomats. Baradar, who heads the Taliban's political office in Qatar, is one of the top leaders in the government in power in Kabul.

A CIA spokesman confirmed the meeting to AFP, saying the agency "never discusses the director's trip."

The Washington Post, which cited anonymous US sources for the meeting, did not disclose the content of the talks between the Taliban co-founder and the CIA boss.

But he said he might have been revolving around any delay in the deadline for ending the US evacuation at the Afghan capital's airport, where thousands of Afghans, fearful of the Taliban's return, we're still hoping to flee. Have happened Country.

Biden has set an August 31 deadline to end air chaos organized by thousands of temporarily deployed US and British troops but has left the door open for expansion if needed.

But a Taliban spokesman warned Monday that the group would not agree to any extensions, calling the issue a "red line" and the delay an "extended occupation."

Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen told Sky News, "If the United States or Britain asks for more time to continue the evacuation - there is no answer. Or there will be consequences."

A virtual G7 summit is due to review the evacuation on Tuesday.