Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20210816

A30 world news
Dialuna 16 augustus 2021

Afghan president flees country as Taliban move into Kabul

Kabul, Taliban negotiators more violence. One female
discussed a transfer of power, journalist, weeping, sent
said an Afghan official. The voice messages to colleagues
official, who spoke on condi- after armed men entered
tion of anonymity to discuss her apartment building and
details of the closed-doors banged on her door.
negotiations, described them
as “tense.” “What should I do? Should
I call the police or Taliban?”
It remained unclear when Getee Azami cried. It wasn’t
that transfer would take place clear what happened to her
and who among the Taliban after that.
was negotiating. The nego-
tiators on the government One Afghan university stu-
side included former Presi- dent described feeling be-
dent Hamid Karzai, leader of trayed as she watched the
Hizb-e-Islami political and evacuation of the U.S. Em-
(AP) — Afghanistan’s em- forces. Just days earlier, an paramilitary group Gulbudin bassy.
battled president left the Commercial flights were lat- American military assess- Hekmatyar and Abdullah,
country Sunday, joining er suspended after sporadic ment estimated it would be who has been a vocal critic of “You failed the younger gen-
his fellow citizens and for- gunfire erupted at the airport, a month before the capital Ghani. eration of Afghanistan,” said
eigners in a stampede flee- according to two senior U.S. would come under insurgent Aisha Khurram, 22, who is
ing the advancing Taliban military officials who spoke pressure. Karzai himself appeared in a now unsure of whether she’ll
and signaling the end of on condition of anonymity to video posted online, his three be able to graduate in two
a 20-year Western experi- discuss ongoing operations. The fall of Kabul marks the young daughters around him, months’ time. “A genera-
ment aimed at remaking Evacuations continued on final chapter of America’s saying he remained in Kabul. tion ... raised in the modern
Afghanistan. military flights, but the halt longest war, which began Afghanistan were hoping to
to commercial traffic closed after the Sept. 11, 2001, ter- Afghanistan’s acting defense build the country with their
The Taliban entered the capi- off one of the last routes ror attacks masterminded by minister, Bismillah Khan own hands. They put blood,
tal earlier in the day, and an available for Afghans fleeing al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden, Mohammadi, didn’t hold efforts and sweat into what-
official with the militant the country. then harbored by the Taliban back his criticism of the flee- ever we had right now.”
group said it would soon an- government. A U.S.-led in- ing president.
nounce the Islamic Emirate Still, U.S. Secretary of State vasion dislodged the Taliban Sunday began with the Tal-
of Afghanistan from the pres- Antony Blinken rejected and beat them back, though “They tied our hands from iban seizing the nearby city of
idential palace — a return rich comparisons to the U.S. pull- America lost focus on the behind and sold the country,” Jalalabad — which had been
in symbolism to the name of out from Vietnam, as many conflict in the chaos of the he wrote on Twitter. “Curse the last major city besides
the country under the Tal- watched in disbelief at the Iraq War. Ghani and his gang.” the capital not in their hands.
iban government ousted by sight of helicopters landing Afghan officials said the mili-
U.S.-led forces after the 9/11 in the embassy compound to For years, the U.S. has been The Taliban earlier insisted tants also took the capitals of
attacks. The official spoke on take diplomats to a new out- looking for an exit for the their fighters wouldn’t en- Maidan Wardak, Khost, Kapi-
condition of anonymity be- post at Kabul International war. Washington under then- ter people’s homes or inter- sa and Parwan provinces, as
cause he was not authorized Airport. President Donald Trump fere with businesses and said well as the country’s last gov-
to brief the media. signed a deal with the Taliban they’d offer an “amnesty” to ernment-held border post.
The American ambassador in February 2020 that limited those who worked with the
The insurgents pushed was among those evacuated, direct military action against Afghan government or for- Later, Afghan forces at Ba-
through a city gripped by said officials who spoke con- the insurgents. That allowed eign forces. gram air base, home to a pris-
panic, where helicopters dition of anonymity because the fighters to gather strength on housing 5,000 inmates,
raced overhead throughout they were not authorized to and move quickly to seize But there have been reports surrendered to the Taliban,
the day to evacuate person- discuss ongoing military op- key areas when President Joe of revenge killings and other according to Bagram district
nel from the U.S. Embassy. erations. He was asking to Biden announced his plans to brutal tactics in areas of the chief Darwaish Raufi. The
Smoke rose near the com- return to the embassy, but it withdraw all American forces country the Taliban have prison at the former U.S.
pound as staff destroyed im- was not clear if he would be by the end of this month. seized in recent days — and base held both Taliban and
portant documents, and the allowed to. the reports of gunfire at the Islamic State group fighters.
American flag was lowered. After the insurgents entered airport raised the specter of
Several other Western mis- As the insurgents closed in
sions also prepared to pull Sunday, President Ashraf
their people out. Ghani flew out of the coun-
try.
Afghans fearing that the Tal-
iban could reimpose the kind As night fell, Taliban fighters
of brutal rule that all but elim- deployed across Kabul, taking
inated women’s rights rushed over abandoned police posts
to leave the country, lining up and pledging to maintain law
at cash machines to withdraw and order during the tran-
their life savings. The des- sition. Residents reported
perately poor — who had left looting in parts of the city,
homes in the countryside for including in the upscale dip-
the presumed safety of the lomatic district, and messages
capital — remained in their circulating on social media
thousands in parks and open advised people to stay inside
spaces throughout the city. and lock their gates.

Though the Taliban had In a stunning rout, the Tal-
promised a peaceful tran- iban seized nearly all of Af-
sition, the U.S. Embassy ghanistan in just over a week,
suspended operations and despite the billions of dollars
warned Americans late in the spent by the U.S. and NATO
day to shelter in place and not over nearly two decades to
try to get to the airport. build up Afghan security