US Envoy, Taliban Accuse Ghani of Scuttling Plan for Peaceful Transfer of Power | Voice of America

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ISLAMABAD – The US envoy for peace in Afghanistan said he struck a last-minute deal with the Taliban in mid-August to keep the insurgents out of Kabul while they negotiated a political transition. But, he said, President Ashraf Ghanis’ decision to flee the country thwarted this plan.

Afghan-born envoy Zalmay Khalilzad made the disclosure in an interview with the Financial Times, saying he negotiated a two-week grace period hours before the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on August 15. . He said Ghanis’ escape left a security vacuum in the city, however, prompting the Islamist group to enter the city that day.

Khalilzad explained that the deal would have allowed Ghani to remain in office until an agreement was reached in Doha on a future government, even as the Taliban stood at the gates of Kabul.

FILE – Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Special Representative on Afghan Reconciliation, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S.-Afghan relations, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 18, 2021.

Taliban confirmation

A Taliban official on Wednesday confirmed details of the deal they had reached with Khalilzad in Qatar’s capital Doha, where the insurgents head their political office.

Yes, there was a gentleman on our side saying that our forces will not enter Kabul city, and we will talk about a peaceful transfer of power, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told VOA from Doha. .

Khalilzad told the Financial Times he had no idea Ghani was planning to go into exile in the United Arab Emirates.

There were questions of public order in Kabul after Ghani fled. The Talibs [then] say: will you take responsibility for the security of Kabul now? And then you know what happened, we weren’t going to take responsibility, the US envoy said.

Khalilzad negotiated a deal with the Taliban in February 2020, paving the way for the United States to repatriate all American troops from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war.

FILE – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani delivers a speech on the latest developments in the country since his exile in the United Arab Emirates, in this screenshot obtained from a video on social media on August 18, 2021.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also said on several occasions in recent days that he had received assurances from Ghani on the eve of his escape that the Afghan president was on board with Washington’s plan.

What he [Ghani] told me in this conversation the day before he escaped, is that, as he said, he was ready to fight to the death, ”Blinken told Tolo News, based in Afghanistan, in Beginning of the month.

Ghani has issued statements in recent days from the UAE apologizing for abandoning the Afghans and saying he acted on the advice of the presidential palace security. The former president also dismissed the take-off allegations with tens of millions of dollars stolen.

Interim government

The Taliban last week announced an interim government in Afghanistan, 20 years after being ousted from power by the US-led international military invasion for harboring al-Qaida leaders.

The Taliban introduced strict Islamic laws when they ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. A brutal justice system, the mistreatment of Afghan minorities, the exclusion of women from public life and the ban on girls from receiving an education marked the Taliban regime at times, leading to the overall isolation of Afghanistan.

The United States and many other countries are now pressuring the Taliban not to reestablish their intransigent system of governance if they want their country to remain a member of the international community and gain diplomatic recognition from any government led by the Taliban in Kabul.

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