Left Afghanistan to avoid bloodshed, 'big human disaster', says President Ashraf Ghani
Kabul, Aug 16: Embattled Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has said he left Kabul to avoid bloodshed and a "big human disaster" in the city of six million people, urging the Taliban to reveal their intentions and reassure the people who are unsure about their future after the insurgents took over the war-torn country.
Taliban insurgents swept into Afghanistan's capital on Sunday after a sudden and unprecedented collapse of the government, prompting president Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to leave the country.
Ghani in his first comments after he left Afghanistan said on Sunday he was faced with a "hard choice" between the "armed Taliban" who wanted to enter the Presidential Palace or "leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years".
"If there were still countless countrymen martyred and they would face the destruction and destruction of Kabul city, the result would have been a big human disaster in this six million city. The Taliban have made it to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out," Ghani said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
"Taliban have won the judgement of sword and guns and now they are responsible for protecting the countrymen's honor, wealth and self-esteem. Didn't they win the legitimacy of hearts? Never in history has dry power given legitimacy to anyone and won't give it to them," the 72-year-old politician, reportedly taking shelter in neighbouring Tajikistan, said.
Ghani said the Taliban insurgents are now facing a new historical test of either to protect the name and honour of Afghanistan or prioritising other places and networks.
He said that to win legitimacy and the hearts of people who are in fear and unsure of their future, it is necessary for the Taliban to assure all people, nations, different sectors, sisters, and women of Afghanistan.
"Make a clear plan to do and share it with the public. I will always continue to serve my nation with an intellectual moment and a plan to develop. Lots more talk for the future," he added.
An academic and economist, Ghani is the 14th President of Afghanistan. He was first elected on September 20, 2014 and was re-elected in the September 28, 2019 presidential election.
He was announced the winner after a protracted process in February 2020 and was sworn in for a second term on March 9 last year. An anthropologist by education, he previously served as Minister of Finance and the Chancellor of Kabul University.
The Taliban on Sunday seized the last major city outside of Kabul held by the country's central government, cutting off the Afghan capital to the east.
The collapse of Jalalabad leaves Afghanistan's central government in control of just Kabul and six other provincial capitals out of the country's 34.
Taliban insurgents began moving towards Kabul following the overnight collapse of the two remaining cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.
US President Joe Biden in April announced that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, but following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the brutal regime of the militant group came to end as they were removed from power by US-led forces in 2001.
The group, however, has been on the offensive in recent months and is now on the brink of seizing power again. They entered direct talks with the US in 2018, and in February 2020.The two sides struck a peace deal in Doha that committed the US to withdrawal and the Taliban to preventing attacks on US forces.
But in the year that followed, the Taliban continued to target Afghan security forces and civilians, and advanced rapidly across the country.
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Cong to distribute over 40 lakh pamphlets focused on 'Mahalakshmi' scheme
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress is set to step up its outreach to women ahead of the sixth and seventh phases of the Lok Sabha polls with plans in place to distribute more than 40 lakh pamphlets focused on its proposed "Mahalakshmi" scheme under which Rs 1 lakh will be given every year to a woman from a poor family, sources said.
In a video message, Sonia Gandhi had said last week that women of the country are facing tough times in the wake of a "severe crisis" and the party's proposed 'Mahalakshmi scheme' for them will help change their lives.
"The Congress' 'Mahalakshmi' scheme guarantees that we will give Rs 1 lakh every year to a woman from a poor family," she had said in her video message.
Sources said the Congress is all set to distribute more than 40 lakh pamphlets with key focus on "Mahalakshmi" scheme in poll-bound constituencies across the country ahead of the sixth and seventh phases.
Addressing a rally here on Saturday, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke about the Mahalakshmi scheme the party intended to bring if the INDIA bloc came to power.
"We will make crores of lakhpatis. Under the scheme, a list of all families living below the poverty line will be drawn and a woman will be chosen from each family and the INDIA bloc will give them one lakh rupees in a year by depositing Rs 8,500 per month," he had said.
At a public meeting earlier, Gandhi had said that on July 1, when the poor women will check their accounts, they will find that Rs 8,500 have 'magically' been deposited.
And this will happen on the first of every month, he had said.
Sources said it was during Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, that several women met Gandhi and shared their grievances with him, and after that the Congress came up with the Mahalakshmi scheme.
Mahalakshmi scheme is among the main five guarantees that the Congress has promised.
"The Congress resolves to launch a Mahalakshmi scheme to provide Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family as an unconditional cash transfer. The poor will be identified among the families in the bottom of the income pyramid," the Congress manifesto has said.
The sixth phase of the Lok Sabha pills will be held on May 25 while the seventh and final phase will be held on June 1.
The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
