Afghanistan Peace Campaign
Former Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib has accused former U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad of a “great betrayal” in a new book examining the collapse of Afghanistan’s republic, arguing that Washington’s direct negotiations with the Taliban sidelined Kabul’s elected government and accelerated its fall in 2021.
The book, Shadows Over Kabul: An Insider’s Account of the Fall of the Afghanistan Republic, co-authored with investigative journalist Tam Hussein, was published in English by Bloomsbury on September 17. It presents Mohib’s account of the peace process and the final years of the Afghanistan republic from inside the former government.
The book argues that Khalilzad’s appointment as the United States’ chief negotiator fundamentally changed the balance of power during the peace process. Mohib writes that then-President Ashraf Ghani viewed Khalilzad’s appointment with deep skepticism from the outset, fearing it would sideline Afghanistan’s government in favor of direct talks between Washington and the Taliban.
Mohib claims Khalilzad established contacts with Taliban representatives without informing the Afghaistan government and conducted negotiations that excluded Kabul’s officials. According to Mohib, the Taliban’s confidence increased significantly once they realized they could negotiate directly with the United States rather than through Afghanistan’s elected administration.
He further alleges that Khalilzad returned from meetings in Pakistan without briefing President Ghani or senior Afghan officials on the substance of those discussions. Mohib writes that the government later learned Khalilzad had met Taliban representatives in Pakistan, describing the move as “a great betrayal.”
Mohib also recounts traveling to Washington to warn U.S. officials that Khalilzad’s diplomacy was weakening the Afghanistan government while empowering the Taliban politically. He says he questioned whether Khalilzad’s approach reflected official U.S. policy or his own initiative, but received conflicting answers. Mohib writes that several planned meetings with U.S. State Department officials were subsequently canceled.
Criticism of the Doha peace process
Mohib’s account adds to longstanding criticism by former Afghan officials of the 2020 Doha Agreement between the United States and the Taliban. The agreement, negotiated without the Afghanistan government as a signatory, provided a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in exchange for Taliban counterterrorism commitments and intra-Afghan negotiations.
Former members of the Afghan republic have repeatedly argued that excluding Kabul from the agreement weakened the government’s legitimacy and provided the Taliban with international political recognition before a comprehensive settlement was reached. U.S. officials, however, have maintained that the Doha deal was intended to end America’s longest war and create a pathway for peace negotiations.
Khalilzad’s role remains disputed
Khalilzad has consistently defended his role in the peace process and has rejected accusations that he was responsible for the republic’s collapse. He has argued that corruption, political divisions within the Afghanistan government, and the rapid collapse of Afghan security forces were decisive factors in the Taliban’s takeover.
The publisher’s synopsis says Mohib’s book challenges Western narratives that primarily blamed Afghan leaders for the events of August 2021, describing the collapse as the result of “Western and Afghan leaders’ betrayal.”