Women in Afghanistan will have the right to work and be educated up to university level, a Taliban spokesman has told Sky News.

Suhail Shaheen said “thousands” of schools continue to operate, following the Taliban takeover.

The group has already announced a “general amnesty” in Afghanistan.

Mr. Shaheen told Sky News those who had worked with the previous Afghan government: “Their properties will be saved and their honor and their lives are safe.”

He also delivered a message to the UK prime minister and the international community to “respect the aspiration of the people of Afghanistan”.

“This is their obligation because they were behind the destruction of Afghanistan during the 20 years,” he said.

“It is their moral obligation to also help to reconstruct Afghanistan and to help the people to start a new life, and a new chapter in Afghanistan.”

And he insisted that no “group or individual” will be allowed to “use the asylum of Afghanistan” to organize terrorist activities.

Pressed on the images of people falling out of planes, he said the Taliban was not responsible.

He said people want to leave Afghanistan because it is a “poor country”.