The whole of Pakistan was in the service of the Taliban: Amrullah Saleh

                                                                                                                                                                                                           Nirendra Dev

Amrullah Saleh, who is stationed in the Panjshir region, said among some major mistakes, even the Doha talks were mishandled by the international community and the Americans.

New Delhi: Terming the Taliban takeover as a ‘tragedy’, the Vice President of the ‘ousted regime’ of Afghanistan, Amrullah Saleh, said on Wednesday (August 25) that all that happened in his country was due to “one wrong political judgement” by the United States. He made a blistering attack on Pakistan’s double standards and said the Taliban used Pakistan as a ‘support base’.

“The Taliban were not having sanctuaries there. The whole of Pakistan was in the service of the Taliban. It was not ever about the American military or about American intelligence. It was the wrong judgement of the politicians and I think they started to pay the price for their wrong decision,” Amrullah Saleh told CNN-News18 in an interview.

Sounding candid and confident, he said: “They (Americans) can see on television how the world media is dominated by anti-American headlines. The US is a global power, the mightiest military power on earth and we never wish them bad. But this shows a single wrong political judgement humiliates a superpower like the United States.”

Answering questions, he said–“The bottom line is that NATO is gone, the US military is gone but Afghan people are not gone and the Afghan people cannot be evacuated.”

Saleh, who has declared him to be the new President of Afghanistan after Ghani has fled the country, asserted: "We will fight till the enemy believes and comes to a conclusion that Afghanistan should remain Afghanistan, and it does not become Talibanistan.We have been warning them (US) of this type of consequence for the last two years, but they ignored.”

Saleh, who is stationed in the Panjshir region, said among some major mistakes, even the Doha talks were mishandled by the international community and the Americans.

“…Talibans did not remain loyal to their words. They did not honour their commitment. They fooled the whole international community. The purpose of the Doha office (of Taliban) was to keep the international community divided and keep them hopeful for a peace process, which did not exist. While the Taliban kept on investing in military prowess, he said Pakistanis were “helping them wholeheartedly”. “So, it was an unwavering support,” he said.

Mr Saleh also said even the Afghanistan government under Ashraf Ghani was virtually blackmailed. “They (US) said either you release the prisoners, or we will decrease our aid. So, they (released prisoners) all ended up on the frontline. It was not prisoner release, it was gifting the Taliban a division of highly radicalised fighters.”