‘Taliban Wins With The Judgement Of It’s Guns’, As Ghani Plays Ojukwu’s Script, Flees Kabul ‘In Search Of Peace’
The Oasis Reporters
August 16, 2021
Following the Taliban Islamists blitzkrieg that saw to the collapse of Afghanistan’s peace talks and the fall of one provincial capital after another, the insurgents group have entered the capital Kabul and into the presidential palace, a little while after President Ashraf Ghani fled, in search of peace.
Ghani might have sought solace in the words of Oxford trained Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu who led Biafran secessionist forces of Igbo people as Nigeria’s federal troops led by Barewa College old student, General Yakubu Gowon continued it’s lightning speed conquest of Eastern Nigeria.
Ojukwu took the last flight out of Uli airport to Ivory Coast and into exile. He left a despondent citizenry, fearful and worried about what would happen to them when sex starved semi literate soldiers pounced on the starving civilians.
But not to worry. Victorious General Gowon whose then newly wedded wife is named Victoria, embarked on his 3R’s, to reconstruct and reconcile with former Biafrans. That was in 1970. Gowon, now an elder statesman is in his late 80s.
Today, citizens of the mountainous nation of Afghanistan are mightily worried about Kabul’s takeover by the Taliban, a hard-line group not known to be friendly to the feminine gender, believing that women should not be educated nor find work.
Those who worked with the Americans in the 20 year occupation are also worried sick. The Taliban has executed a few of them in their rapid onslaught. Now flights can hardly take off from Kabul Airport as the Americans make spirited efforts to evacuate their citizens and allies who were with them.
Here’s a report from Aljazeera, a network watched via Satellite television all over the world:
“One of the Taliban’s top officials has said the real test of governing is set to begin, after the group entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, and took control of the presidential palace.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political bureau, said in a brief video statement on Sunday that the test would begin with meeting the expectations of Afghans and resolving their problems.
Al Jazeera obtained exclusive footage of Taliban leaders, surrounded by dozens of armed fighters, addressing the media from the country’s seat of power earlier on Sunday.
They entered the palace after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country amid the Taliban’s rapid advance, which saw the group capture 26 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals in less than two weeks.
Ghani later said in a statement posted on Facebook that he fled to prevent further bloodshed.
“The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” he said.
US to secure Kabul airport for departures
The Pentagon and the US Department of State said they are taking steps to secure Kabul’s international airport to enable the safe departure of thousands of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.
In a joint statement Sunday night, the agencies said the US security presence will have expanded to nearly 6,000 troops over the next two days, with a “mission focused solely on facilitating” the departures. They will also take over air traffic control.
“Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the statement said.
“And we will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for US Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks.”
‘It’s shameful,’ says ex-Ghani adviser of president’s departure
Shafiq Hamdam, a former adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, slammed Ghani’s decision to flee Afghanistan on Sunday amid the Taliban’s rapid advance on Kabul.
“It’s shameful. It’s embarrassing. People feel abandoned, people feel betrayed,” Hamdam told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.
Thanks to Aljazeera for that report.
Afghanistan by any stretch of the imagination, cannot be said to be a prosperous country. It cannot even compare to neighboring Pakistan.
Besides, it has always faced wars. One was in it’s determined resistance to Russian occupation.
The then Mujahedeen fought to expel the Russians.
They succeeded.
Now the Americans are leaving with their tails behind their legs as the cost of staying on in the extremely cold and unfriendly country proved to be a mighty drain on the American economy.
However, the true test of the Taliban leadership would begin to manifest in the coming weeks if missteps will not lead to divisions and infighting amongst them as it often occurs amongst insurgent groups who usually have a closer affinity to guns and grenades, rather than the finer politics of leadership.
The world waits, as they watch events with bated breaths.
Written by Greg Abolo.
Additional reporting from Aljazeera news in Doha
