The fall of Kabul last month triggered a chaotic evacuation of Western civilians, but it apparently could have been prevented. Khalilzad said it was agreed at the last minute that the Taliban would not enter the city yet.
The agreement provides for a two-week transition period, according to the diplomat. President Ashraf Ghani will remain in office temporarily. Meanwhile, Qatar is said to be negotiating a transitional government.
Ultimately, none of those agreements came to fruition. Rich went abroad and this led to chaos in the capital. Khalilzad told the newspaper that he was not aware of the Afghan leader’s flight plan. After his departure, the security services are no longer operational.
Then the Taliban were said to have asked if the United States would provide security in Kabul. “And you know what happened. We didn’t want to take that responsibility,” Khalilzad said in his first interview since the United States left Afghanistan.
According to the Financial Times, Ghani himself was unable to ask for a response. The former president stated earlier that he fled to avoid further bloodshed.
