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Karzai ‘invited’ IEA into Kabul to stop the chaos in August

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered insights into the secret and sudden departure of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on August 15 and said he “invited” the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to enter Kabul.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Karzai said he issued the invitation in order “to protect the population so that the country, the city doesn’t fall into chaos and the unwanted elements who would probably loot the country, loot shops.”
Karzai said that when Ghani left, his security officials also left. The then defense minister Bismillah Khan even asked Karzai if he wanted to leave Kabul when Karzai contacted him to know what remnants of the government still remained. It turned out there were none. Not even the Kabul police chief had remained, AP reported.
Karzai, who was the country’s president for 13 years after the IEA was first ousted in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, refused to leave.
Karzai said Ghani’s flight scuttled a last-minute push by himself, the government’s chief negotiator Abdullah Abdullah and the IEA leadership in Doha that would have seen the IEA enter the capital as part of a negotiated agreement.
The countdown to a possible deal began August 14, the day before the IEA came to power, AP reported.
Karzai and Abdullah met Ghani, and they agreed that they would leave for Doha the next day with a list of 15 others to negotiate a power-sharing agreement. The IEA were already on the outskirts of Kabul, but Karzai said the leadership in Qatar promised IE forces would remain outside the city until the deal was struck.
Early on the morning of August 15, Karzai said, he waited to draw up the list. The capital was fidgety, on edge. Rumors were swirling about an IEA takeover. Karzai called Doha. He was told the IEA would not enter the city.
At noon, the IEA called to say that “the government should stay in its positions and should not move that they have no intention to (go) into the city,” Karzai said. “I and others spoke to various officials and assurances were given to us that, yes, that was the case, that the Americans and the government forces were holding firm to the places (and) that Kabul would not fall.”
However, by about 2:45 pm it became apparent Ghani had fled the city. Karzai called the defense minister, called the interior minister, searched for the Kabul police chief. Everyone was gone. “There was no official present at all in the capital, no police chief, no corps commander, no other units. They had all left.”
Ghani’s own protection unit’s deputy chief called Karzai to come to the palace and take over the presidency. He declined, saying legally he had no right to the job, AP reported. Instead, the former president decided to make a public, televised message, with his children at his side “so that the Afghan people know that we are all here.”
Karzai was adamant that there would have been an agreement for a peaceful transition had Ghani remained in Kabul.
“Absolutely. Absolutely. That is what we were preparing for, what we were hoping (along) with the chairman of the peace council to go to Doha that evening, or the next morning, and to finalize the agreement,” he said. “And I believe the Taliban (IEA) leaders were also waiting for us in Doha for the same … objective, for the same purpose.”
Today, Karzai meets regularly with the IEA leadership and says the world must engage with them. Equally important, he said, is that Afghans have to come together. War has dominated Afghanistan for more than 40 years, and in the last 20 years “Afghans have suffered on all sides,” he said.
The former president has a plan. In his talks with the IEA, he is advocating the temporary resurrection of the constitution that governed when Afghanistan was a monarchy. The idea was also floated during earlier Doha talks, AP reported.
At the same time, a traditional Loya Jirga — a grand council of all Afghans, including women — would be convened. It would decide the country’s future, including a representative government, a constitution, a national flag, he told AP.
There’s no indication the IEA will accept his formula, though he says they have not rejected it in discussions.
Karzai said the world has to engage with the IEA. Afghanistan needs to operate. Government servants have to be paid. Health care facilities need to function, he told AP.
“Right now, they need to cooperate with the government in any form they can,” said Karzai who also bemoaned the unchallenged and sometimes wrong international perceptions of the IEA.
He cited claims that women and girls are not allowed outside their homes or require a male companion. “That’s not true. There are girls on the streets — women by themselves.” The situation on the ground in Kabul bears this out.
Asked to describe the IEA, Karzai said: “I would describe them as Afghans, but Afghans who have gone through a very difficult period in their lives as all other Afghans have done for the past 40 years.”
We “have been through an extremely difficult period of our history in which we, the Afghans, have made mistakes on all sides, in which the international community and those who interacted with us have made tremendous mistakes,” Karzai said. “It’s time for all of us to realize that, and to look back at the mistakes that we have all made and to make it better.”
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Afghanistan has legal right to defend itself against interference: Hanafi

Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salam Hanafi says if anyone attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, it is Afghanistan’s religious and international right to defend itself.
Hanafi made these remarks during the inauguration ceremony of a commercial complex in Kabul.
“If someone interferes in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, it is Afghanistan’s undeniable, religious, and international right to defend itself. If someone throws a stone at us, we will be compelled to respond, even if it means throwing a mud-brick back at them,” said Hanafi.
Hanafi also reiterated the importance of positive interaction and good relations with countries in the region and the world, emphasizing that tension among neighboring countries benefits no one.
He stated: “It is in no neighboring country’s interest to have tension among them. The better the relations, the more it benefits the people of the neighboring countries. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan always supports this peaceful policy and friendly relations.”
“The policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan towards the world is that we seek positive engagement with everyone,” he added.
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IEA rejects Pakistan’s claim of Daesh recruiting in Afghanistan

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has rejected claims made by Pakistan’s representative to the UN Security Council, Munir Akram, that Afghanistan is an ISIS (Daesh) “recruitment center”.
According to a statement issued by the foreign ministry, the IEA said the claims were unfounded and accused Pakistan of trying to shift focus away from its own internal issues.
The ministry reiterated that since the IEA’s return to power significant strides have been made to eradicate Daesh and other extremist groups in Afghanistan.
The foreign ministry stated that Pakistan is using these allegations as a distraction from its own instability. The ministry urged the international community to recognize the progress made in Afghanistan and to refrain from placing blame on the country.
This comes after Monday’s UN Security Council meeting where the threat of Daesh was discussed. The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, said ISIS-K in Afghanistan (Daesh) “supporters plotted attacks in Europe and were actively seeking to recruit individuals from Central Asian States”.
Voronkov provided details on the global terrorism landscape during the past six months, and said “in Afghanistan, ISIL-Khorasan (Daesh) continued to pose a significant threat”.
Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations also raised the issue of ISIS-K in Afghanistan and said the “access terrorist groups like ISIS have to leftover American weapons in Afghanistan” was concerning.
Afghanistan meanwhile does not have an Islamic Emirate representative at the UN and has repeatedly called for their seat to be handed over to them, stating any discussions on or including Afghanistan were meaningless without the IEA’s participation.
The Islamic Emirate has also repeatedly rejected claims of Daesh being active in Afghanistan and have said that the group has been eradicated in the country.
On the subject of US weapons in the country, the IEA has described such concerns as baseless and repeatedly stated that all US weapons and military equipment left behind are secured by the government, with no group or individual having access to them.
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Karzai condemns Kunduz bombing
The Qatar government was also quick to condemn the incident and expressed its condolences to the families of victims.

Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai has strongly condemned the explosion that rocked Kunduz city on Tuesday, leaving at least five people dead.
In a post on X, Karzai called the incident “an act against human and Islamic principles”.
The incident took place outside a Kabul Bank branch in the city when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives.
The Qatar government was also quick to condemn the incident and expressed its condolences to the families of victims.
According to a statement issued by Qatar’s Foreign Affairs, Doha is fully committed to “the rejection of violence and terrorism, regardless of the motives and causes”.
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