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Updated December 16th, 2021 at 07:14 IST

Ex-Afghanistan Prez Hamid Karzai reveals he 'invited' Taliban to enter Kabul in August

Taliban didn’t take the Afghanistan capital — they were invited to, said, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai who also claimed Ghani's escape was pre-planned.

Reported by: Ajeet Kumar
Afghanistan
Image: AP | Image:self
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In a significant revelation, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has admitted he had invited the Taliban to enter Kabul on August 14. While speaking exclusively to AP, Karzai, who has been advocating for human rights, women education and several other issues since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, said he came to invite the Taliban into the city “to protect the population." According to Karzai, if he had not invited the extremist group to the national capital, the country would have plunged into a deeper crisis where thousands of Afghans had to lose their lives.

When asked about the last-minute decision of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani to leave the country, he denied this report and added "it was planned theory". Karzai revealed he and the government chief negotiator, Abdullah Abdullah, had been working with the Taliban leadership in Doha on a mediated accord to allow the militia to enter the national capital under controlled conditions. He told a day before the Taliban took over the country, he came to know about the intention of the "terror" outfit. Karzai claimed he had discussed the developments with Ghani and Abdullah on August 14. According to him, Ghani agreed that they would leave for Doha the next day with a list of 15 others to negotiate a power-sharing agreement.

"Taliban had promised not to enter Kabul until the deal was stuck"

The former Afghan President said he too had interacted with the Taliban leader on August 14 and they had assured him the insurgent forces would remain outside the city until "the deal was struck". "At noon, the Taliban called to say that “the government should stay in its positions and should not move that they have no intention to (go) into the city," Karzai told AP. "I and others spoke to various officials and assurances were given to us that, yes, that was the case, that the Americans and the government forces were holding firm to the places (and) that Kabul would not fall," added Karzai. However, at  2:45 pm when he dialled the senior military officers to know the ground situation, Karzai was told all the officials left the country earlier in the day.

Karzai was offered to flee from Afghanistan

According to Karzai, he was repeatedly asked by Defense minister Bismillah Khan if he wanted to leave Kabul. Karzai told the offer was made to him when he made a phone call to Khan to inquire about remnants of the government still present in Afghanistan. He was informed that all public servants including, the Kabul police chief, had left the country. Karzai said he refused the offer and decided to stay in the country along with his family. "There was no official present at all in the capital, no police chief, no corps commander, no other units. They had all left," Ghani was told. Further, he called Afghanistan- "a victim of war" which has been devastated over the years by extremist Afghans and some others. Before signing off, he appealed to the Afghans to stay united and find a solution together. An end to that can only come when Afghans get together, find their own way out," Karzai said.

With inputs from  AP

Image: AP

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Published December 16th, 2021 at 07:14 IST

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