Kabul, A week after the US’s chaotic exit and with the Taliban having put in place a government in Kabul comprising largely of people figuring on the UN Sanctions List and even some with bounties placed by America, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “has achieved” what it went to Afghanistan to accomplish and the main aim was to suppress Al-Qaeda, which has been vastly “degraded”.
In an interview to Tolo News, Blinken said: ”...We have to start with why we went to Afghanistan in the first place. And that was after 9/11, to deal with those who attacked us on 9/11 and to make sure the best of our ability that they could not do it ever again from Afghanistan, and that effort was largely successful.
“Osama Bin Laden was brought to justice a decade ago, and Al-Qaeda as an organization with the capacity to attack us or anyone else from Afghanistan was greatly degraded and so on the terms that we set for ourselves after 9/11, we achieved what we set out to achieve. At the same time as you said 20 years, a trillion or more dollars, many lives lost but also many lives changed.
”His comments come as many countries, including India and Russia, have voiced concern over the presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and the threat of terrorism spreading to Central Asia and India.
Of the Taliban’s caretaker cabinet, announced on Tuesday, 17 of the 33 ministers are on the UN Sanctions List, including the interim prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers, as well as the ministers of interior, defence and foreign affairs. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting minister of interior, has a $10 million bounty on his head, while Khalil Haqqani, his uncle, who is a minister, has $5 million bounty placed on his head by the US.
Asked about the rapid fall of Kabul, Blinken answered: "I have to say the so many Afghans in the security forces acted with incredible courage and bravery and tremendous sacrifice ... but as an institution, it collapsed. And the government of course, the government fled ultimately.
"Blinken called the evacuation of US personnel and troops "extraordinary”, and said "overall, almost a hundred and twenty-five thousand people were evacuated in a very short period of time under incredibly difficult conditions including the threat posed by ISIS-K.
"On American citizens, he said "nearly 6,000, virtually all of those who had identified themselves to us" and "wished to leave" were evacuated. He said the US is committed to those citizens who remain in the country.
Lotfullah Najafizada of Tolo News asked Blinken over former president Ashraf Ghani's leaving the country:
Najafizada: "Did you help President Ghani flee the country?
"Blinken: No, in fact …
Najafizada: Did you know about it?
Blinken: No, I was on the phone with President Ghani the night before he fled the country. In our conversation … In our conversation we were talking about work that was being done in Doha, on the transfer of power, and in the absence of that succeeding, what he told me in the conversation the night before he fled is that he was prepared to fight to the death, and in less than 24 hours he left Afghanistan. So, no I certainly didn’t know about it. And we certainly, we did nothing to facilitate it.
Najafizada: And he took millions of dollars in cash with him. Your taxpayer’s money and Afghan’s money? Do you know about that?
Blinken: That I don’t know. What I do know, is that he left the country and again in very short period of time the security forces and its institutions collapsed and so did the government.
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