Afghan citizens in Delhi hold Ghani responsible for present crisis

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Afghanistan citizens living as refugees in Delhi blamed their president Ashraf Ghani for the present situation in their country. They said though the situation there was not favourable to live in but the seven-year rule of Ghani has made it worse for the people.

Afghan citizens who spoke to IANS said that Ghani has 'in fact sold Afghanistan to the Taliban' and fled the country leaving the citizens to their own fate. They said that the Afghan soldiers wanted to fight the Taliban, but Ghani always discouraged them.

The Taliban have captured the whole of Afghanistan after targeting one province after another and the government allowed them (Talibanis), asking the soldiers to maintain calm and peace instead of fighting against them, they said.

"Our soldiers are not weak, and they had enough guns and other equipment and each soldier wanted to die fighting for the country, but this government did not allow them to fight. Now, it is proved that Ghani sold the country to the Pakistan supported Taliban and fled," said Basit Fallah, a citizen of Afghanistan who has been living in India for the last two years.

He said since Ghani became the president, he gave a free hand to the Taliban to enter the Afghan provinces. "It has come all of a sudden, but it was a planned conspiracy. When the Talibanis used to attack the Afghans our president would say maintain peace. He would say we need to have friendly relations with them. Why? Because our president plotted to sell the country and he did it finally," Fallah added.

Nadeem, another Afghan citizen, said leaders of half a dozen provinces, including Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat were always against the views of President Ghani, and they wanted to fight the Taliban but the top leadership did not support them.

The Taliban entered Afghanistan's capital city Kabul on Sunday, completing the takeover which began at a stunning pace in the wake of the withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

"India had given MI-35 helicopters to the Afghanistan government, but the Ghani government handed them to the Taliban within two weeks. Ashraf Ghani did not flee from Afghanistan because he was worried about the Taliban. He ran away because he knew that the people of Afghanistan would punish him for what he has done," Nadeem added.