- Did you expect the Taliban to virtually instantly approach Kabul?
- Of course not!
Not to me alone - it never even occurred to anyone here that such a thing was possible.
No one could have foreseen, not even the smartest experts.
They assured on TV that the capital would not be surrendered to the Taliban under any circumstances.
And suddenly in the morning a very strong panic, chaos began.
- What exactly happened in the city?
- Firstly, Kabul is completely stuck in traffic jams.
Here we already have a lot of residents, and there are also many refugees.
Thousands of people connected at least somehow with the government, with foreign troops, arrived in Kabul with their families from the captured provinces - Kandahar, Herat, and dozens of others.
The TV news reported that the Interior Ministry has begun issuing 5,000 passports a day in Kabul - many want to leave the country.
Passports are supposed to be issued free of charge, but they are said to have been sold for $ 500 each.
For comparison, a bag of flour costs $ 60, and even then not every Afghan can buy at least one a month to feed his family with tortillas.
That is, you understand what panic was growing even before the Taliban attacked the capital.
And today it burst through.
The people walked in crowds, did not even walk - they ran back and forth.
Everyone was at a loss.
No one knew what was really happening, there was no official information, only one rumor was everywhere: the Taliban surrounded the capital from all sides.
- Was there an assault on the city?
- No, they did not enter Kabul, although people said that even Arg (the presidential palace in Kabul) was seized.
Crooks, looters appeared, they began to rob shops and dukans (small restaurants. -
RT
).
I saw it myself, and no one stopped them.
Then the shooting began.
But it was not the Taliban who fought government soldiers.
A friend called me and said that it was in his area that one of the rulers was trying to drive to the north, to the Panjshir gorge, probably in a hurry.
His guards frightened people with shots so that they could run away, and cars were pushed onto the sidewalks by a truck so that the motorcade would pass.
There was no more shooting in the city, at least I did not hear, my relatives and friends, too.
- Why do you think the Taliban did not rush into Kabul?
- I phoned one of my comrades, he is a high-ranking official.
I learned from him that the Taliban, who came to Kabul, were told by their leaders to move ten kilometers further from all four city gates.
Mullah Baradar (Abdul Ghani Baradar is the leader of the political wing of the Taliban. -
RT
)
is now in
Arga
, and the Americans brought Ahmad Jalali (the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Afghanistan in the government of Hamid Karzai -
RT
) there.
Doctor Abdullah also arrived there (Abdullah Abdullah is the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconciliation. -
RT
).
- How did you manage to put such different people at the same negotiating table?
- In Arga, according to my comrade, yesterday night the entire security service of President Ashraf Ghani was disarmed.
The Americans disarmed.
- That is, it was the Americans themselves who actually removed Ghani from the presidency?
“Yes, Arg’s safety is in their hands now.
Only American special forces have weapons in the palace.
- What do you think will happen next?
- My friend told me that there will be a transitional government headed by Jalali, Abdullah Abdullah will become his deputy, the Taliban will join the government.
- In your opinion, is the creation of a transitional coalition government with the participation of the Taliban and a bad peace with them is now the best choice?
- This government will be for six months, then we'll see what happens.
Anything can happen - this is Afghanistan.
So far, from half past five local time in Kabul has become calm.
True, we are careful, we stay at home, we do not go out without special need.
* "Taliban" - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 14, 2003.