Shortly after Ashraf Ghani fled Kabul, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. In an interview, the country’s former president talks about his motives.
A year after the militant Islamist Taliban returned to power, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has defended his flight from the country. “I left because I did not want to give the Taliban and their supporters the pleasure of humiliating an Afghan president again,” he told U.S. broadcaster CNN in an interview aired Sunday.
The president’s entire protection force disbanded at the time and donned civilian clothes, Ghani said. The defense minister also fled, he said. “I was the last to leave,” he said.
Ghani had fled abroad on Aug. 15, 2021. Within hours that day, the city fell to the radical Islamic Taliban, which has ruled the country ever since.
Since their return to power as a result of the withdrawal of international troops, led by the U.S., the Taliban have curtailed the basic rights of women and suppressed protests against them. No country has yet recognized their de facto government.
Yesterday, Saturday, just before the first anniversary of the Taliban takeover, women took to the streets in greater numbers to denounce the imposed restrictions on their rights to education, work, and freedom of movement. The Taliban ended the peaceful protest with warning shots.
Also on Saturday, the explosion of a bomb attached to a motorcycle in western Kabul injured four people, including two Taliban, a security official told Tolo News. It was initially unclear who was behind the incident. In the country, the terrorist militia “Islamic State,” which is hostile to the Taliban, is one of the perpetrators.
The source used in the creation of a news story: https://www.spiegel.de
