Afghanistan: ‘Corruption from Day One’ – The Afghan Colonel Is Now Hiding About Whom He Blames For The Return Of The Taliban | world News

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“I want to make it clear that the Afghan security forces had a tough fight. They really defended what they were doing. It was the politicians who lost this battle, not the army or the police.”

Colonel Hanif Rezaei was the spokesman for the 209th Shaheen Corps, a division of the Afghan army based in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

He is now speaking to Sky News on the phone from an unknown location outside Afghanistan, where he and his family are hiding. He says that even there he does not feel safe.

Photo: Colonel Rezaei (second from right) believes Taliban rule may not last long

On August 16, US President Joe Biden blamed the Taliban’s horrific advance squarely on the shoulders of Afghan security forces.

After the fall of Kabul, he said, “How many other generations of America’s daughters and sons would you like me to send to fight the civil war in Afghanistan, when the Afghan forces wouldn’t?”

Given the 66,000 Afghan soldiers killed over 20 years of war and the speed of the Taliban’s latest offensive, Colonel Rezaei believes this is unfair and an abrogation of American responsibility.

It paints a picture rather than the rapid deterioration in morale of the armed forces in the north, in part due to the withdrawal of international forces and the air and reconnaissance support they have provided, but mostly because of weak Afghan leadership, which was set up in the face of widespread deployment. Corruption spread in the ranks of the army.

It marks the turning point in the north for then-President Ashraf Ghani’s visit to Mazar-i-Sharif on August 11.

On that day, in neighboring Kunduz, hundreds of soldiers surrendered to the Taliban.

Photo: Colonel Rezaei and his family are hiding outside Afghanistan

In Mazar-i-Sharif, Mr. Ghani held a meeting with local men Atta Muhammad Noor and Abdul Rashid Dostum and promised 15 million Afghanis (£130,000) to support the additional men who offered to fight on the side of the army.

“This amount is hardly enough to equip these people and pay for their expenses,” he said. “It has weakened the resolve of those who rose up to defend the region and the country.”

Three days later, Mazar-i-Sharif, the last urban stronghold in northern Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban.

The next day, the capital Kabul did too – and Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

The former president denied reports of him leaving with huge sums of money, but Colonel Rezaei does not believe this.

“Ashraf Ghani from day one had no interest in the people of Afghanistan or the country,” he said. “It was corruption from the first day he was bent on it.”

US intelligence reports have long warned that rampant political and military corruption will be a determining factor, if not a major contributor, to the mission failure in Afghanistan.

Colonel Rezaei explains in detail how even after the withdrawal of international forces, the contents they left behind were systematically sold and distributed, with only a few individuals capturing the proceeds.

“There was very comprehensive corruption in all ranks and in the army,” he said. If I sit down and give you examples, there will be many, many examples from which I can quote things about fuel, food, and salaries.

“In no area to mention, there has been corruption – and this was on all levels.

But he believes that the spirit of the Afghan people is so strongly opposed to Taliban rule that the current structure of power may not last long.

“If the Taliban don’t put together an inclusive government, I could very soon and very quickly see something stronger than the Northern Alliance we knew.”

In the mountainous Panjshir valley of Afghanistan to the northeast of Kabul, Ahmed Massoud, son of the famous Afghan resistance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, promises to launch a new offensive of the Mujahideen against the Taliban.

However, he needs supplies, and so far there has been no explicit acceptance of external support for his National Resistance Front.

Colonel Rezaei thinks he will come.

“I can’t cite any particular sources at the moment as we speak, but I’m pretty sure the northern front is already receiving a lot of support in terms of very modern weapons and equipment, and it will continue to come from different places.”

Photo: Colonel Rezaei and his family

If that happened, he wouldn’t come back to fight.

He hopes one day to return with his family as a civilian, but is bleak about the future of his country and the assortment of terrorist groups that Afghan and NATO forces have fought for 20 years to try to eradicate.

“I can say with confidence that the word as a whole will not be peaceful. From 2001 to 2021, it was the sacrifices of Afghan forces that brought relative peace to the region.

“But from now on, especially after Ashraf Ghani’s corrupt regime, things have changed, and I can’t see any peace after what happened.”

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