The Taliban didn’t take over Kabul this August, but were invited into the Afghan capital, the country’s former president, Hamid Karzai, who said he issued that invitation, has revealed.
The move was the only way “to protect the population so that the country, the city doesn’t fall into chaos and the unwanted elements who would probably loot the country, loot shops,” Karzai insisted in an interview with AP on Wednesday.
The 63-year-old, who used to be Afghan president between 2001 and 2014, still remains a highly influential figure in the country.
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![A Taliban fighter stands guard at a market in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 5, 2021.](https://cdni.rt.com/files/2021.12/thumbnail/61ac7150203027560e61d59d.jpg)
In August – when Taliban forces swept through Afghanistan in a matter of weeks and approached Kabul, capitalizing on the withdrawal of the US forces after a two-decade-long presence in the country – Karzai had been involved in the negotiations on the power sharing deal between the radical group and the government of Ashraf Ghani.
He insisted that a peace agreement was on the cards on August 14, with President Ghani agreeing to travel to Qatari capital Doha the next day to meet with Taliban representatives.
On August 15, tensions were high in Kabul as the locals feared that the capital would be stormed, but the ex-president said that the Taliban called him in the morning to say that “the government should stay in its positions and should not move (as) they have no intention to (go) into the city.”
Government officials also assured him that the military was eager to defend the city and that “Kabul would not fall,” he added.