Afghan President Ghani Flees Country As Taliban Enter Kabul Seeking “Peaceful Transfer Of Power”

by TYLER DURDEN

Reuters is reporting that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country as the Taliban enter the capital Kabul. Ghani is reportedly in Tajikistan.
 

A SENIOR INTERIOR MINISTRY OFFICIAL SAYS AFGHANISTAN'S ASHRAF GHANI HAS LEFT FOR TAJIKISTAN

— Guy Faulconbridge (@GuyReuters) August 15, 2021

 
The president left the country accompanied by his “close aides,” TOLO, an Afghan news channel, reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
 
A source told Russia’s RIA-Novosti news agency that Ghani had fled to Tajikistan and would soon travel from there to a third country.
 
The Taliban is claiming it has engaged in talks with the government about a “peaceful surrender” of the city to the group.

“Until the completion of the transition process, the responsibility for the security of Kabul is with the other side [the Afghan government],” the Taliban wrote in a statement posted online.

Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal, said that a transfer of power will happen peacefully, while security forces will remain in the streets to “ensure Kabul’s security.”

“A transitional administration” will be formed in Afghanistan, the minister said, as quoted by Reuters.

The Taliban is expecting a “peaceful transfer of power” from the Afghan government “in the next few days,” the radical group’s spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, told the BBC.

“We assure the people, particularly in the city of Kabul, that their properties, their lives are safe,” Shaheen said, adding that the Taliban also intends to protect the rights of women and media freedom in the country.

The group noted that Kabul is a large and densely populated city, and it won’t enter “by force or war,” suggesting that fighting to capture the capital would result in heavy losses and damage.
 
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US intelligence services – by now fully woke and focused on the existential threat to the country’s future that are white, middle-class American males – had predicted just 4 days ago that Kabul could fall in 90 days. It turned out to be less than 90 hours.
 

 
In a grotesque repeat of the Fall of Saigon, on Sunday, the Taliban – having reclaimed the country at an unprecedented pace – entered Kabul, freeing inmates at the city’s main prison and triggering a massive effort to airlift Western diplomats and civilians as the country’s demoralized security forces offered no resistance. Meanwhile, the US – cementing its humiliation on the international arena – was busy evacuating diplomats from the embassy in Kabul to the airport.
 
Cementing its renewed grip on the country two decades after the U.S. ousted it from power, the Taliban in a statement said that they wouldn’t take Kabul by force. The insurgent group added that it had ordered its fighters to wait and not penetrate the Afghan capital, home to six million people, and that it was in talks with “the other side” to discuss entering the city without harming its residents, the WSJ reported.
 
“The Islamic Emirate instructs all its forces to stand at the gates of Kabul, not to try to enter the city,” the Taliban said in a statement on Sunday, referring to the group’s formal name. “Negotiations are under way to ensure that the transition process is completed safely and securely, without putting the lives, property and honor of anyone in danger.”
 
Until the transition of power is done, the current Afghan government would remain responsible for the security of the capital, it said, while adding that a general amnesty was announced for all government officials and soldiers.
 
A senior Afghan official said President Ashraf Ghani was at the U.S. Embassy to consult with the U.S. envoy. Both the U.S. and Afghan government have asked the Taliban to hold off for two weeks until a transitional government could be agreed to, he said. “I do not think the Taliban will accept the offer,” he said.
 



 
Despite the Taliban’s promises of a peaceful transition, sporadic gunfire erupted in central Kabul in the late morning as the administration of Ghani told all employees to go home.
 

#BREAKING: Kabul in complete blackout, heavy fighting going on. pic.twitter.com/EHYuh0TNfs

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) August 14, 2021

 
Soon after, checkpoints were abandoned as panicked residents clogged the streets. By early afternoon, the Taliban took over Kabul’s main Pul-e-Charkhi prison, freeing thousands of inmates, videos on social media showed.
 

VIDEO from Pul-e-Charkhi prison shortly before prisoners were released. #Afghanistan #Kabul pic.twitter.com/g3TB72YINs

— FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 15, 2021

 
Having spent trillions of dollars over two decades to “modernize” the Afghan army so it can stand up against the Taliban, it took just hours to see that this money has been completely wasted as the terrified army scattered and handed over its weapons to the advancing Taliban. As a result, over at the US embassy on Sunday afternoon helicopters ferried American and Western diplomats and civilians to the military side of Kabul airport. One after another, Chinooks and Black Hawks took off from the landing zone, spraying dust.
 
The U.S. will completely pull out all embassy personnel within three days, CNN reported. It added that a core of U.S. officials would remain at Kabul airport, currently the only route out of the country rushed to withdraw their cash before the Taliban takeover.

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