As India was getting ready to close down its embassy in Kabul on August 15 final yr within the wake of the Taliban takeover, Hamid Karzai urged Indian Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon to not go away, the previous President of Afghanistan stated in an interview to The Indian Express.
“Well, of course, it was very clear that I advised him not to leave,” Karzai stated, declining to offer particulars of that dialog. “There was no reason for India to leave, I am glad they are coming back. I’ve been urging Indian government leaders to re-open the embassy. There’s so much relationship between Afghanistan and India that requires India’s presence here. Active full strength presence here. So I’m glad they are returning. And I want them to return full-fledged, full force.”
Karzai, who studied in India from 1979-1983, stated Delhi should, “on priority”, reissue visas to Afghan college students who have been finding out in India, and haven’t been capable of return to their research, and difficulty visas to those that want to research in India. “The return of the (Afghan) students is important”, he stated.
“We are talking about India, Afghanistan, people to people, civilizational links. It’s for that reason that India has a place in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has a place in India. Therefore, this engagement is necessary with the Afghan people, and India must return,” he stated.
Karzai, who led Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, as head of a transitional administration for 2 years and following the 2004 elections, as President, lives within the Afghan capital. His house is close to Zanbaq Square, an space whose fortifications have been taken over by the Taliban. An armoured automotive with a gun mounted on it, is stationed on the sq.. Armed Taliban cadres test for id and papers each few metres.
Karzai’s house is subsequent to the Arg, the presidential palace, and the international ministry, which is now run by the Taliban. His personal safety are deployed contained in the compound.
Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai (AP)
Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who served as former chief govt within the first Ashraf Ghani authorities, have been the one two prime political leaders who stayed on after the Taliban takeover. As panic unfold on the information that Ghani had left, the assertion by the 2 leaders that they’d stay to handle a peaceable transition, served as a reassurance to Kabul residents.
Since then, Abdullah has travelled in a foreign country together with to India earlier this yr. Karzai is allowed to satisfy guests at dwelling, and throughout the metropolis, however is just not allowed to depart Kabul. The Taliban have turned down requests from him to journey overseas.
Asked if he was a prisoner of the Taliban he stated: “No, I have just not been able to visit abroad. Whatever we describe that as, I wouldn’t call that a prisoner.”
Karzai’s son not too long ago left to check in Germany. The former President stated his son had a chance to check overseas in 2020, however each he and his spouse needed him to complete education in Afghanistan. “But then things changed, and education suffered, so there was no more an opportunity here for him to educate, and we, out of total compulsion, agreed to send him to Germany,” he stated.
Karzai additionally has three younger daughters, who attend college in Kabul. “I want my daughters to study here. And to study from Class 6 to 12, as well here. And the Taliban. I am urging them strongly, very strongly, to reopen girls school as a vital important issue for our country,” he stated. The Taliban have banned training for ladies past Class 6.
Karzai stated he and Abdullah had urged the Taliban to reopen excessive faculties for ladies. “They have to, that must be the decision. It’s inevitable. The country cannot take steps towards towards dying. If we are not going to go to school, that means we’re killing ourselves and our future. Therefore, there simply is no other option. That’s an imperative. Is there a word beyond imperative, or that’s where it ends?” Karzai stated.
The response from the Taliban to his and Abdullah’s entreaty “has been quite positive”, Karzai stated. “We are waiting for action on all this,” he stated.
As these working the nation, the Taliban was now accountable to make sure “that Afghans don’t leave the country, that the educated ones are not only given an opportunity to stay in Afghanistan, but those who have left are attracted back to come back to their own country, and that the government represents the aspiration of all the Afghan people,” he stated.
He stated the one large change within the final yr was that there was no large-scale “fighting” or casualties. “In that sense, there is a lot better security. The countryside is a lot better in this respect than what we had before,” he stated.
“But in other aspects, in the economy, we have a serious deprivation, in terms of education, there is serious decline, the universities are not functioning to even half their strength, the schools are not functioning to half their strength. And the most important of all, girls are not going to school from grade 6 to 12. Plus a lot more. We lost the reserves of the country, $7 billion. For a country of poor means and resources, that’s a lot of money. There is a loss of institutions, the collapse of the state itself, we have at least 55 of our army helicopters in our neighbouring countries. Imagine if each one of those helicopters is calculated between at least 10 to $15 million, that that’s almost $700 million. So in those terms, we have lost a lot,” he stated.
He stated he had requested the Taliban to start out a “national dialogue” with all Afghans. “You cannot govern a country without technocrats, without educated people, without professionals, you cannot govern the country effectively without the participation of women. So all aspects of good governance must be put in place. And that must begin with a dialogue with all Afghans. And that should lead to the expression of the will of Afghan people on the government and the future of the country,” he stated.
The will of the folks may very well be ascertained via the standard Afghan meeting of loya jirga, or a referendum. “Whatever way is best at a given time, must be used,” he stated.
He dismissed a current loya jirga as not one in any respect. “That was a more a jirga of the Taliban themselves, a meeting of largely of the clergy of the religious scholars of the country, plus some others. So that wasn’t really representative in any sense,” he stated.
Regarding the killing of Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri in Kabul by the US, Karzai stated the Taliban authorities had introduced they weren’t conscious of his presence and that they’ll examine. “Let that investigation happen, let them come up with the results of the investigation and explain it to the world and to the Afghan people,” he stated.
