DUBAI: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with Anas Haqqani, a key member of the Taliban, on Wednesday, while a leader of the insurgent group reportedly said the country will not be a democracy but ruled by a council.
The Haqqani Network, which was branded a terrorist group by the US in 2012, is an important faction of the Taliban who captured the Afghan capital, Kabul, in a stunning takeover on Sunday, returning to power nearly 20 years after being toppled in a US-led invasion.
As the Taliban encircled Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country and later posted on Facebook that he left to avoid bloodshed in the capital, without saying where he had gone.
Since then, an Afghan government council comprising Karzai, Gulbudin Hekmatyar, leader of the Hizb-e-Islami political and paramilitary group, and Abdullah Abdullah, the old administration’s main peace envoy, have been seeking to draw out a future roadmap for Afghanistan.
The Taliban delegation led by Baradar, head of the group’s political office in Qatar, arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, onboard a Qatari military plane that landed in southern Kandahar province, the group’s stronghold.
During an overnight press conference in Kandahar, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhaw, a member of the Taliban team, said that the delegation “will hold consultations and discussions with local and other leaders about the formation of an inclusive government.”
Meanwhile, Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior Taliban leader said that Afghanistan may be governed by a ruling council headed by Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, according to media reports.
“…There would be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” Hashmi reportedly said, although the Taliban has not made any official announcement on the structure of their government in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country on Sunday as the Taliban approached Kabul, on Wednesday said that he was “in talks” to return home.
Earlier on Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry had confirmed that Ghani was in their country and they had accepted the former president and his family on humanitarian grounds.
In a video message posted on his Facebook page, Ghani said he supported the talks held on Wednesday between Taliban and Karzai. “I want the success of this process,” Ghani said.
He also denied allegations that he had transferred large sums of money out of the country before fleeing to the UAE.
“Do not believe whoever tells you that your president sold you out and fled for his own advantage and to save his own life,” he said.
“I was expelled from Afghanistan in such a way that I didn’t even get the chance to take my slippers off my feet and pull on my boots.”