reality. one of the key political announcements that they reiterated that is very important, first press conference they conducted in kabul since they were driven from power was this. they were going to give a blanket amnesty to all government officials that had fought them many the past. this is ha what he said. we want afghanistan to not be a battlefield. today the fighting is over. the the opposition, we all have been given blank amnesty. the key is they recognize that large elements of the afghan army and war lords across the nation folded up in the face of the taliban advance. not necessarily because they supported the taliban but they didn t want to die fighting
execution of it a horrible embarrassment so how should this have gone? this is what the negotiations in doha were for and the assurances we had on the sidelines, it was to use what leverage we had in order to institute a power sharing agreement in order to have some faction of a blended power government in kabul with probably reduced authority and more authority in the provincial areas, greater regional autonomy. but that went out the window. as soon as that ball started rolling and the taliban started seizing capitals and capturing war lords or having various war lords flee the country, there was no going back and our leverage disintegrated in days. what we built up in 20 years collapsed in days. that shows you there wasn t a lot underpinning it but that doesn t mean there wasn t
afghanistan. during the civil war which ripped the country apart, they re right out of the soviet withdrawal. and they were do-gooders at one point in their history. they disarmed the population. they were wanting to bring peace and security, and then the change happened just before they went into kabul in 96, which is that they suddenly came up with this area that they wanted to rule afghanistan. and so they became one more war lord faction with all the other war lords. and who are all battling the power in kabul. and that, i think, has been the real tragedy. they have kept that image of wanting peace and security, and in which their the other taliban or the other war lords that we want to bring our elders in to decide what kind of government we should have. we do not want to govern ourselves.
threat could they pose to the u.s. well, the nature of counterterrorism has massively changed since 2001. within bagram prison, and others run by the afghanistan security, people accused of al qaeda and isis affiliations, top ranking taliban war lords. taliban have stressed they do not want to see the territory of afghanistan used by foreigners, used by extremists to attack any other country. but that promise was the first point of the peace deal. the taliban signed with the united states. there s a lot of assessments. u.s. assessments, former afghan, government intelligence assessments suggesting that al qaeda are doing quite well here. i had a phone call from a spokesperson who forcefully rejected that idea. they say this country is for afghans and why would they encourage a return to the sort of 9/11 attacks the u.s. put in there after bin laden used it as
accessible to us around the clock and we are able to certain extent to ensure that the operations are ongoing. it is not the best scenario we would wish for but at least we are still able to provide life saving intervention and that is also the case for the other un agencies. i also the case for the other un a . encies. ., , also the case for the other un agencies- also the case for the other un arencies. . , ., ., . agencies. i am ust going to reduce somethin: agencies. i am just going to reduce something here agencies. i am just going to reduce something here concerning - agencies. i am just going to reduce something here concerning some l agencies. i am just going to reduce | something here concerning some of the warlords, the tribal leaders. they have vowed defiantly to defend their strongholds from the taliban and crush the insurgents. how concerning is that for you? i am concerning is that for you? i am alwa s concerning is that for you? i am always concerned concerning is