INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the former president of Afghanistan, said in the first television interview since he fled the country on August 15
last year that according to the country&s constitution, he is still technically the country&s president.In an interview with the newly
established ABN channel, Ghani said: &I am the president according to the constitution and until the people of Afghanistan legally elect
someone else, I am the president.He also stated that he fled the country because he was afraid of being killed and did not want to face the
Mohammad Najibullah, ex-president of Afghanistan who was assassinated in 1996.However, many Afghans call him shameless, adding that Ghani&s
escape caused serious misery among the people in the country.In response to the question on why he fled Afghanistan, Ghani said that he was
the last person to leave Afghanistan and most of the cabinet members, including the Minister of Defense, had already fled by the time he
flew out.I was the last person to leave the country, and this was also so that the bitter experience of Dr
Najib regarding an Afghan president would not be repeated,& he said.In addition, Ghani stated that all politicians had a part in the
downfall of the previous regime and he accuses Abdullah Abdullah, the former head of the National Reconciliation Council, for destabilizing
He also criticized Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistans who led peace talks with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and
secured the Doha agreement in February 2020.Dr
Abdullah is responsible for not consolidating the republic, especially in the last seven years and secondly, he was in charge of the
Afghanistan Peace Council, which step did he take on paper, which plan did he come up with, or in practice, when he went to Doha on a
special plane and then came back on the day of Eid and said that the Taliban is not ready to make any kind of move,& Ghani added.But Afghans
at home lashed out at Ghani and said his words meant nothing and that he failed to even apologize for his actions.The post ‘I am still
president of Afghanistan&, Ghani says in TV interview first appeared on Ariana News.
