Malali Bashir Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 17, 2021 By August 15, several thousand Taliban fighters had encircled the Afghan capital, Kabul, after seizing most of the country in a blistering military offensive against the Western-backed Afghan government. With the militants at the city gates, President Ashraf Ghani and his close team of advisers were
AP: The Taliban didn’t take the Afghan capital — they were invited, says the man who issued the invitation. In an Associated Press interview, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered some of the first insights into the secret and sudden departure of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — and how he came to invite the Taliban
The New Yorker: A trove of unreleased documents reveals a dispiriting record of misjudgment, hubris, and delusion that led to the fall of the Western-backed government. Rahimi told Ghani that the Taliban had pledged not to enter Kabul. Yet this was based on assurances from Khalilzad and the Taliban, and Ghani regarded both as unreliable
Aamaj: Deputy spokesperson of Taliban’s government, Ahmadullah Wasiq, tweeted that the United Arab Emirates has imposed limitation on political activities of Ashraf Ghani and other former officials who are now in Dubai and other cities of that country. According to him the limitation includes the political activities of leader of Jamiat-e Islami’s Noor branch, Ata
8am: According to information provided to Hasht-e Subh, Afghanistan has signed a new contract “against the principles and procurement policies” with an Emirati company by the order of Mohammad Ashraf Ghani after the cancellation of the contract with Olive Group, which was responsible for securing Afghanistan’s airports. The company had no experience in aviation security
Michael Hughes: Former U.S. diplomat Carter Malkasian in his recent book on the war in Afghanistan says Ashraf Ghani as president had felt “centralized reform” was the strategy to defeat the Taliban and raise the country into modernity. Malkasian also points out what turns out to be quite a prescient passage in Ghani’s own book, Fixing Failed States
8am: Dawood Siawash the father of Yama Siawash today (Sunday, November 7) demanded the photos of the Central Bank cameras in the first year of his son’s assassination. Dawood Siawash also blamed ex-President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and former Central Bank Governor Ajmal Ahmadi for not identifying his son’s murderer. Click here to read more (external
Michael Hughes: Considering the Americans – for years – have gone to great lengths to obfuscate the reality on the ground in Afghanistan, it is only fitting that Washington is trying to muddy the waters as to how and why the war ended in such a disastrous manner and who bears the most responsibility. Of
8am: “Mr. Khalilzad considers Dr. Ghani’s obstinacy to maintain power as the main obstacle to his so-called peace,” Dr. Spanta, former national security adviser to Hamid Karzai, tweeted on Friday, October 29. “Ghani’s madness in maintaining his illegitimate power and his hostility to peace and the rule of law was evident. But Mr. Khalilzad, weren’t
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News October 27, 2021 ISLAMABAD — Zalmay Khalilzad, the senior U.S. official who led the negotiations with the Taliban, blamed, for the most part, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s “intransigence,” the Afghan elite’s “selfishness” and Afghan soldiers’ lack of will to fight for the rapid Taliban military takeover of the country in August. “We