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'Night before Ashraf Ghani fled..': Blinken reveals his last call with Afghanistan's former president
The United States was not aware of Ashraf Ghani's escape from Kabul, Antony Blinken has said.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has a phone call with former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in which a wide range of issues including the escalating Taliban offensive, Doha negotiation, was discussed. But the US did not get an inkling that within 24 hours, Ghani will flee the country as in that phone call Ghani said he was prepared to fight to the death. "We certainly did nothing to facilitate it," Blinken said in an exclusive interview to Tolo News. Blinken also refused any knowledge of Ghani fleeing Kabul with tonnes of cash. "What I do know, is that he left the country and again in a very short period of time the security forces and its institutions collapsed and so did the government," Blinken said.
On recognising the Taliban government or on working with them in future, Blinken dropped suggestions as he said that if the 'future government of Afghanistan' is able to uphold the basic rights of people, the basic human aspiration, then 'that's a government that we can work with, if it doesn't, we won't."
In the course of the interview, Blinken also made it amply clear that the US government is not inclined towards the Resistance Front, which is thinking to announce their own parallel government even if their fort Panjhshir is believed to have fallen in the hands of the Taliban. "Our focus right now is on working with the international community to set clear expectations for the government that emerges in Afghanistan, and to communicate those expectations to the government and what the government to be and to work on that bases," Blinken said on being asked about US's connection with the Panjshir.
Ashraf Ghani's sudden escape from Kabul on August 15 is still wrapped in a mystery, though the former president has shed light on what led to his unceremonious departure from the country which, a day before he had pledged to protect.
On Wednesday, Ghani released a statement from the UAE, where he is presently residing and reiterated that his departure was to save Afghanistan from bloodshed. "Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens," Ghani said, refuting allegations of amassing a huge amount of money.
Blaming the Afghanistan government for what happened in the country in the 100 days preceding to August 15, Blinken said many soldiers fought bravely, but as an institution, the army collapsed. "I have to say the so many Afghans in the security forces acted with incredible courage and bravery and tremendous sacrifice. So many lost. But as an institution, it collapsed. And the government of course, the government fled ultimately. All of that happened in a very very short period of time," he said.
"What has happened in the last few months is the accumulation of things that have happened over 20 years," Blinken added.
