Ashraf Ghani Says His Staying Would Not Have Saved the Republic

Former President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in an interview with PBS said he will not return “under the Taliban rule,” but he will return as an “Afghan citizen to an Afghanistan where every Afghan feels a sense of belonging.” 

“I will not return under the Taliban rule, but I’d be delighted to return as an Afghan citizen to an Afghanistan where every Afghan feels a sense of belonging, where Afghan women, Afghan youth, and Afghan poor become stakeholders, and, finally, we get the stability that has been denied to us,” said Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, former Afghan president.

“I left as the last person in the chain of command…because our forces could no longer sustain,” Ghani said, speaking via videoconference from the United Arab Emirates. “I had no one to fight with me …  it was not a situation where sacrificing myself would have saved the republic. On the contrary, it would have created another trauma and we have had enough of trauma in our history.”

Ghani claims that his personal assets were looted in Afghanistan.

“I have declared $5 million in my declaration of assets in 2014. I don’t know how much was left. But my personal assets were looted. I did not leave with anything, because — and I don’t have any assets abroad,” Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told PBS.

The former president said that Afghanistan was the grounds for a proxy war between the United States and almost every other major power from Russia to Iran and others

“Second, Afghanistan became the ground for a proxy war between the United States and almost every other major power from Russia to Iran and others. And related to this is the loss of logistical support. In the end of 2020, there were about 20,000 contractors, and they were withdrawn to less than 100 in July,” said Ashraf Ghani, former Afghanistan president.

Meanwhile, some critics hold that the escape of Ashraf Ghani and his cabinet was the main reason for the collapse of the last government in the country.