Kabul; The Saudi diplomats' decision to exit Kabul amid security concerns has sparked fears that at least three other countries were also planning to close their embassies in Afghanistan, media reports said on Friday.

The Taliban government of Afghanistan has rejected the claim.

An Afghan Taliban official has confirmed to Dawn News that Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its staff, but said the Saudis “have told us that they have withdrawn emb­a­ssy staff for a week-long training”.

After Saudi Arabia’s “temporary withdrawal” of staff, reports surfaced about the closure of the UAE, Qatari, and Russian missions in Kabul, reports the newspaper.

However, the Afghan official, who did not wish to be identified, denied rumours about the closure of the UAE’s mission, saying that although the UAE did not have an ambassador there, the embassy was still being run by several diplomats.

Mutlaq bin Majed Al Qahtani, the special envoy of Qatar’s foreign minister, met Taliban ministers on Sunday to discuss a host of “important developments in Afghanistan, especially in politics, economy, development, and education”.