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In My View

Ashraf Ghani’s ‘betrayal’ and its consequences in Afghanistan

Published : Friday, 30 December, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 320
Syed Badiuzzaman
Since the Taliban takeover in August last year after the precipitous withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan, this South and Central Asian country has been following a familiar path-- a path that in the past kept it isolated from the rest of the world and took it to the most undesirable destination of a failed state where no country wants to go.

The pullout of foreign troops from Afghanistan was precipitous after 20 years of the U.S. occupation and there was no well thought-out plan in place for running the country in their absence. The United States relied heavily on former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani�s government and 300,000 U.S.-trained Afghan soldiers and security forces but they all let down the American government as well as the international community.

A former World Bank executive and an academic, Ashraf Ghani fled his country and the Afghan military collapsed and just melted away as the poorly equipped Taliban troops took control of Kabul. Ghani, however, used his Twitter account later to explain to the Afghan people his reasons and justifications for leaving the country. �I owe the Afghan people an explanation for leaving Kabul abruptly on August 15 after the Taliban unexpectedly entered the city.�

In a letter posted in English on his Twitter account, he wrote: �I left at the urging of the palace security who advised me that to remain risked setting off the same horrific street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s. 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. I have devoted 20 years of my life to helping the Afghan people work toward building a democratic, prosperous and sovereign state -- it was never my intent to abandon the people or that vision.�

But that was exactly what he did. He abandoned his country and the people of Afghanistan at a time when they needed him most. A patriotic leader never leaves his country and people during a crisis. But Ashraf Ghani did, creating an inglorious example that no good and true political leader will ever follow in any country. It may be true that he devoted 20 years of his life helping Afghan people work for a democratic, prosperous and sovereign state. But it was also true that he suddenly gave up his lofty ideal and a great vision by fleeing his country in a shameful way.

Regardless of the arguments Ashraf Ghani made in his Twitter message to the Afghan people for leaving his country after the Taliban takeover, the ordinary people of Afghanistan never appreciated his exit from his homeland that way. In the sudden absence of the legitimate leader of their country, they felt betrayed and abandoned. The future history of Afghanistan will never treat him kindly for what he did to his country. His sudden departure from Afghanistan only pleased the Taliban as it facilitated their transition to power in a very easy and smooth way.

As there was no government in Kabul, the Afghan military and security forces which were built by the U.S. army spending billions of dollars just collapsed and completely melted away. Ashraf Ghani and other top leaders of his government were primarily responsible for the collapse of the Afghan military. While they couldn�t stand their ground against the Taliban, how could the Afghan security forces do that? As they all fled their country in a humiliated way, Afghan security forces became demoralized. They laid down their arms without firing a single shot in many cases and simply melted away into the population.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the contrary, created a shining example of love for his country and people during the Ukraine war which is still ongoing. When Ukraine�s militarily superior neighbor Russia invaded his country in late February this year, he never left his homeland and abandoned his people. Many countries offered to safely evacuate him out of Ukraine at the early stage of the conflict but he rejected their proposals. A lot younger than former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Zelenskyy could have chosen to command the war from outside his country but he never did that. He rather decided to stay in Ukraine and fight alongside his people.

There is no word of praise for what Ashraf Ghani did listening to the suggestions from his security personnel. No Afghan or foreigner has appreciated his cowardly exit out of his homeland at a critical time of Afghanistan. By doing so, he has only proved himself as a selfish politician. Had he stayed in his country and tried to run his government even after the Taliban takeover, things could have been different -- better instead of worse. In such a situation, the entire international community including the United Nations which is still represented by his government and most big powers of the world would be strongly supporting him and his aides.

As the U.S. and several other foreign countries left Afghanistan last year, there were over 300,000 members of the Afghan National Army while the Taliban had a maximum of 80,000 troops. If the Afghan army could manage to hold its ground in the face of charging Taliban troops, probably there would be some skirmishes in the beginning but in the end the government security forces could prevail for their higher number, advanced training and modern military equipment. Such a situation could have created an atmosphere of dialogue between Ashraf Ghani�s government and the Taliban leadership and eventually there could be a power-sharing national government in Afghanistan.  

But Ashraf Ghani fled the country anyway and so did his other top aides. While doing so, they never thought about the consequences of the Taliban takeover. What will happen to Afghanistan in the absence of a democratically elected government? What will happen to the painstaking reforms that were carried out in the social, political and economic fields of Afghanistan in the last 20 years? What will happen to the fundamental human rights and especially women�s rights in Afghanistan? What will happen to the flourishing Afghan media and press freedom in Afghanistan? What will happen to the civil liberty and freedom of Afghan people? Ashraf Ghani and his aides never thought about these critical  issues. While fleeing their country, they only thought about themselves.

The Taliban took control of Kabul virtually unchallenged. So, even though they initially promised to introduce a softer version of Islamic law and respect people�s fundamental human rights and also women�s rights in Afghanistan, they walked back their commitment finding no strong and effective opponents against any of their policies. For the Taliban, it was like scoring goals in an empty field without any opposing team. So, in the absence of any effective resistance to any of their hardline policies, the Taliban made a complete U-turn to their old and strict form of Sharia law reversing all progresses made in the social, political and economic fields in the last 20 years and taking Afghanistan back to the 1990s.

Soon after the Taliban takeover, Afghan school girls and women became their soft targets. They issued one after another decree gradually removing them from public spaces. First, they banned Afghan school girls from secondary and higher education. Then they introduced their old-fashioned head-to-toe burqa for Afghan women. Then they imposed travel restrictions on them and banned them from parks, gyms and bathhouses. And then just about a week ago, the Taliban banned Afghan women from university education. They also imposed restrictions on Afghan female journalists and curtailed media freedom of the once vibrant Afghan press. And just a couple of days ago, they banned employment of Afghan women in all national and international non-governmental organizations.  

Up until today, the Taliban haven�t shown any interest in working with the international community. So, mostly isolated from the rest of the world, Afghanistan is pretty much on the road to a failed state exactly the way it was once before in the 1990s. Foreign aid has stopped. Afghanistan�s money is frozen in foreign banks due to sanctions. The economy is in disarray driving millions into poverty and hunger. And almost half of Afghanistan�s entire population is currently surviving on humanitarian assistance. Yet, the Taliban are stubbornly pursuing their hardline policies turning Afghanistan into a failed state.
-    The writer is a Toronto-based journalist who also writes for the Toronto Sun as a guest columnist    










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