Former President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan mentioned he fled the nation to forestall the destruction of Kabul as Taliban fighters superior on the capital, providing essentially the most detailed protection of his actions for the reason that authorities’s collapse in August.
Mr. Ghani, talking to the BBC in an interview broadcast on Thursday — his first interview since he fled — mentioned his sudden departure was the “hardest” choice he made. He famous that even within the hours earlier than he boarded a helicopter and was spirited in another country, he didn’t know it might be his final day in his homeland.
The Taliban had largely surrounded Kabul and panic gripped town when Mr. Ghani, alongside together with his spouse and shut associates, fled on the afternoon of Aug. 15.
Mr. Ghani advised BBC’s Radio 4 that if he took “a stand,” the presidential palace safety guards would have been killed.
“And so they weren’t able to defending me,” he added.
“Two completely different factions of the Taliban have been closing in from two completely different instructions,” Mr. Ghani defined. “And the potential for a large battle between them that will destroy town of 5 million and convey havoc to the folks was monumental.”
The choice to go away was frenzied, he mentioned, and he was not given “greater than two minutes” to prepare for the flight in another country.
Greater than three months later, he’s properly conscious of the criticisms from many corners that he deserted his nation when he was wanted most.
“My life work has been destroyed,” he mentioned. “My values had been trampled on. And I’ve been made a scapegoat.” However he as soon as once more defended his actions.
“I needed to sacrifice myself as a way to save Kabul,” he mentioned. The Taliban took full management of Kabul hours after Mr. Ghani’s escape and the collapse of his safety forces. Three days later, Mr. Ghani resurfaced within the United Arab Emirates, the place he has been residing since then.
Mr. Ghani mentioned the preliminary plan was to go away Kabul for Khost, a province in southeastern Afghanistan, the place C.I.A.-backed militiamen, often known as the Khost Safety Power, have been based mostly. However the plan modified as a result of Khost had already fallen to the Taliban.
Afghanistan Beneath Taliban Rule
With the departure of the U.S. navy on Aug. 30, Afghanistan shortly fell again beneath management of the Taliban. Throughout the nation, there’s widespread anxiousness in regards to the future.
Mr. Ghani additionally denied the accusations that he stole thousands and thousands of {dollars} whereas fleeing the nation.
Within the interview, he expanded on an apology, written in English, that he posted on Twitter in September. On the time, his apology was not acquired warmly by Afghans who have been enraged by his sudden escape. Some accused him of betraying a nation and a rustic he had led for practically eight years.
The Taliban’s new authorities has proven little curiosity in adopting the achievements of the previous twenty years. It has imposed restrictions on free press and girls’s rights, and marginalized minorities.
The Taliban have additionally summarily executed or forcibly disappeared dozens of the previous authorities’s safety forces since they seized energy in August, in line with reviews by human rights teams.
Afghanistan’s financial system is on the breaking point. Thousands and thousands of Afghans would not have sufficient to eat, and 1,000,000 youngsters might starve to dying this winter.
This all might have been prevented if Mr. Ghani had not deserted Afghans in a really crucial second, and agreed to an orderly transition of energy, consultants and a few Western officers mentioned.
Critics have blamed Mr. Ghani for the present financial disaster in Afghanistan, saying his choice to flee the nation derailed a last-ditch deal that would have prevented an entire takeover of the federal government by the Taliban and the sanctions that got here after.
However Mr. Ghani criticized the US for negotiating instantly with the Taliban with out involving the Afghan authorities, saying the discharge of 1000’s of Taliban prisoners — a part of the deal — emboldened the insurgents, who in the end overthrew his authorities.
“I used to be painted in complete black,” he mentioned, including that the Afghan authorities was by no means given an opportunity to barter instantly with the Taliban. “Ambassador Khalilzad sat down with them,” he mentioned, referring to Zalmay Khalilzad, the American former peace envoy. “It grew to become an American problem. Not an Afghan problem.”
“They erased us,” he added.
The Afghan authorities and Taliban negotiators did meet starting in fall 2020 in Doha, Qatar, and established ideas and procedures to information peace negotiations, however these talks shortly stalled after months of bureaucratic hangups and escalating violence in Afghanistan.
One sticking level had been the Taliban’s demand that Mr. Ghani step down as president to make approach for a brand new authorities. However Mr. Ghani had refused, insisting he was the nation’s authentic elected chief.
Mr. Khalilzad, who additionally spoke on the identical radio present, rejected Mr. Ghani’s assertion, blaming him and the leaders of Afghan safety forces for the “failure” of the Afghan authorities and the collapse of its forces.
“There was an settlement that President Ghani had agreed to, on Aug. 15, that the Talibs wouldn’t go into Kabul,” Mr. Khalilzad advised BBC Radio 4. In a telephone dialog with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on the night of Aug. 14, Mr. Ghani confirmed his settlement with a plan to participate in an orderly transition of energy at a authorized meeting often known as a loya jirga, which was scheduled to happen on Aug. 30., in line with Mr. Khalilzad.
“After agreeing to it, to everybody’s shock, he and some others departed,” Mr. Khalilzad mentioned.
Mr. Ghani, 72, spent over twenty years of his life in the US, first as an anthropology scholar, then as a professor and a World Financial institution worker. He returned to Afghanistan after 2001, working because the nation’s finance minister. He gained the presidential election in 2014, and was re-elected in 2019. Each elections have been marred by widespread fraud.
His authorities was sidelined from the peace talks after the Trump administration engaged instantly with the Taliban, signing a take care of the group in February 2020 that known as for U.S. troops to withdraw in 2021.
The Taliban intensified assaults on the previous authorities’s forces after President Biden, beneath stress from the deal, introduced in April that American forces would withdraw from Afghanistan by September. By early summer season, the rebel group managed greater than half of the districts in Afghanistan.
By late July, the federal government forces had misplaced management of your entire rural countryside. In some of the outstanding navy campaigns, the Taliban captured all 33 provincial capitals and Kabul, the nation’s capital, in lower than two weeks, with out dealing with a lot resistance.
The Taliban’s lightning victory shocked many, together with Mr. Ghani, who had proven little curiosity in participating in severe negotiations with them.
Mr. Ghani departed Kabul within the early afternoon of Aug. 15, boarding helicopters parked on the presidential palace. The helicopters landed in neighboring Uzbekistan roughly two hours later. A chartered aircraft transported him and his companions to the United Arab Emirates the subsequent day.
Amongst those that fled alongside Mr. Ghani have been his two most trusted aides, Hamdullah Mohib, his nationwide safety adviser, and Fazel Mahmood Fazly, the director of the president’s administrative workplace. Mr. Mohib and Mr. Fazly have been essentially the most highly effective officers after the president.
Because the information of Mr. Ghani’s escape broke, dozens of presidency’s officers, cupboard ministers and generals flooded the airport, hoping to catch a flight in another country.
In the course of the practically eight years of his presidency, he had centralized the ability to such an extent that your entire system collapsed quickly after his departure, abandoning an influence vacuum, which the Taliban instantly stuffed.
Wali Arian contributed reporting.