‘Won’t allow imposed war on Afghans’: President Ashraf Ghani’s address amid Taliban offensive

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani assured citizens that his government will ward off further violence and displacement of people, and ensure that stability is maintained.

“I assure you that as your president my focus is to prevent further instability, violence and displacement of people,” he said during a televised address on Saturday.

He promised that his government will not allow a reversal of the gains the country made in the last 20 years. “I’ll not allow imposed war on Afghans to bring further killings, loss of the gains of the last 20 years, destruction of public property,” he added.

Ghani’s last public appearance was on Wednesday in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where the Taliban launched a multi-pronged on Saturday.

Many news outlets reported that Ghani is most likely to resign on Saturday during his address but the Afghan President did not broach the subject of his resignation – nor did he clear the air on the reports.

The Afghan President informed the public that he has started “consultations” with various stakeholders to bring an end to the instability assailing the region. “Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government with the elders, political leaders, representatives of people, and international partners on achieving a reasonable and certain political solution in which the peace and stability of the people of Afghanistan are envisaged.” AFP said quoting Ghani.

The insurgent Taliban have captured much of northern, western, and southern Afghanistan at a breakneck pace, alarming the US, which now projects the fall of the final frontier of the Afghan government, Kabul, within 90 days. Government forces are currently battling the Taliban just 11 kilometres south of Kabul as the US prepares to withdraw its troops by August 31.