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Taliban soldiers moved into the Afghan capital on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled to neighbouring Tajikstan, marking the return of the religious movment to the power almost after two decades.
According to international media reports, Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, has confirmed the departure of President Ghani from Afghanistan.
“He left Afghanistan in a hard time, God hold him accountable,” Abdullah said.
In a video posted on Facebook, Abdullah, speaking in Persian, appealed to the Afghan security forces to do their part to maintain peace in the country. He also appealed to the Taliban to not harm anyone or cause disharmony in Kabul. He said Ghani had left the country in troubling times, for which he will be remembered in history.
Ghani’s countrymen and foreigners alike also raced for the exit, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan, according to English newspaper, Daily Dawn.
After entering Kabul earlier today, Taliban fighters sought the unconditional surrender of the central government.
The beleaguered government, meanwhile, hoped for an interim administration, but increasingly had few cards to play. Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.
Two Taliban officials told the British news agency, Reuters there would be no transitional government in Afghanistan and that the group expects a complete handover of power.
The Taliban ordered their fighters to enter Kabul to prevent looting after local police deserted their posts, a spokesman for the militant group, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a statement.
In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban have defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even though they had some air support from the US military.
The lightning speed of the push has shocked many and raised questions about why Afghan forces crumbled despite years of US training and billions of dollars spent. Just days ago, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera English satellite news channel that the insurgents are “awaiting a peaceful transfer of Kabul city”. He declined to offer specifics on any possible negotiations between his forces and the government.
But when pressed on what kind of agreement the Taliban wanted, Shaheen acknowledged that they were seeking an unconditional surrender by the central government.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the group was in talks with the Western-backed government for a peaceful surrender. “Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed,” he said in a statement.
Ali Ahmad Jalali, a US-based academician and former Afghan interior minister, could be named head of an interim administration in Kabul, three diplomatic sources said, though it was unclear whether the Taliban had agreed.
For his part, Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said the government will enter into talks with the Taliban for the peaceful transition of power.
In a video statement shared on Twitter, Mirzakwal said, “As the Minister of Interior of Afghanistan, I ordered all security forces, special forces and other personnel to continue their duties in different places to ensure the security of the city. Our people should not worry. There is no security problem in the city at the moment.”
He underlined that Kabul remains under government control and that the Taliban would not attack the city, adding that the transition of power would also happen peacefully for a transitional government to be set up.
Meanwhile, acting Defence Minister Bismillah Khan sought to reassure the public in a video message.
“Authority has been given to a delegation that will be going to Doha (Qatar) tomorrow to reach an agreement on Afghanistan,” he said. “I assure you about the security of Kabul.”
(This is developing story)
