Kabul: The Taliban did not capture the Afghan capital, they were invited, reportedly says the person who issued the invitation.
In an interview, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered some direct insight into the mystery and sudden departure About Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and how he came to invite the Taliban to the city to protect the population so that the country would not fall into chaos.
When Ghani left, his security officers also left. Defense Minister Bismillah Khan even asked Karzai if he wanted to leave Kabul, when Karzai contacted him about what remains of the government were still there. It turned out that there were none. Even the police chief of Kabul was no more.
Karzai, who was the country’s president for 13 years after the Taliban was ousted for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, refused to leave.
In an extensive interview at his compound surrounded by trees in the heart of the city where he lives with his wife and young children, Karzai was adamant that Ghani’s flight dented last-minute plans focused on the Taliban’s entry into the capital. Turned. failed.
He and Abdullah, the government’s chief negotiator, were working on a deal with the Taliban leadership in Doha to allow militias to enter the capital under controlled conditions. The countdown to a possible deal began on August 14, a day before the Taliban came to power.
Karzai and Abdullah met with Ghani, and they agreed that they would leave for Doha the next day and enlist 15 others to negotiate a power-sharing deal. The Taliban were already on the outskirts of Kabul, but Karzai said the leadership in Qatar had promised insurgent forces would stay out of the city until an agreement was reached.
On the morning of August 15, Karzai said he was waiting for the list to be ready. The capital was rough, on the edge. Rumors of Taliban takeover were swirling. Karzai called to Doha. They were told that the Taliban would not enter the city.
Karzai said that in the afternoon the Taliban said “the government should stay in its position and not move forward (because) they have no intention of going into the city.”
At around 2:45, however, it became clear that Ghani had fled the city. Karzai called the defense minister, called the interior minister, looked for the Kabul police chief. Everyone had gone.
The deputy chief of Ghani’s own security unit called Karzai to come to the palace and take over the presidency. He refused saying that he had no legal right to the job. Instead the former president “decided to make a public, televised message with his children to let the Afghan people know that we are all here”.
Karzai was adamant that if Ghani had stayed in Kabul, a settlement would have been reached for a peaceful transition.
Today, Karzai regularly meets with members of the Taliban leadership and says the world should join them. “Equally important,” he said, “is that the Afghans have to come together”.
He added: “It can only end when the Afghans come together, find their way.”
Published in Dawn, December 16, 2021