After the fall of the republic and fleeing the Arg (the presidential palace), Ashraf Ghani appeared in media many times. However, one of the most prominent figures in the U.S. foreign policy, who had supported Ghani in his journey to becoming president, has now criticized him. Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State of the United States, in his book called “Never Give an Inch,” accused Ashraf Ghani of being “a total fraud.” He said he had met many leaders, but Ghani was the “worst” of them all. Arif Yaqoubi, a reporter of Afghanistan International, who read parts of the book, quoted that Pompeo hated Ashraf Ghani, accusing him of being more focused on power and wasting the lives of Americans. On the other hand, Amrullah Saleh rejected Pompoe’s accusation, saying his words were “absolutely false.” In confirmation of Pompoe’s words, Ashraf Ghani’s opponents have called him a fraud, temperamental, and corrupt and consider him the cause of democracy failure. Meanwhile, Ashraf Ghani has been repeatedly accused of interfering in peace talks. However, Ghani denied these allegations and always emphasized that the peace initiative should be in the hands of his government, a government that had lost its authority and values among the citizens and politicians and could not act as a representation of the Afghan society.
Ghani was not seen as a leader who supported democracy, instead he widened the divide between the government and the people as much as possible. His absolute control of power caused the people to despise him and the political parties to distance themselves from their policies in the peace talks. Ghani was not trusted by the regime‘s supporters and he led other political parties to a standstill. He often disregarded the decisions of the Afghan Parliament and people often saw him interfering in the decisions of the National Council of Afghanistan. Ghani concealed the agenda of the former National Council during the peace talks, preventing it from taking the lead in the peace talks and acting as the most legitimate power and representative of the people of Afghanistan. Ghani was very stubborn and his monopolistic beliefs caused the fall of the republic system. In his speeches, he spoke of defeating the Taliban and said he was not a fugitive. However, on 15 August 2021, he fled the country and handed power over to the Taliban while more than 50 thousand armed forces were present in the country to fight.
Ghani‘s supporters still defend his decision to leave the Arg, believing that if he had stayed, he would have had to give up power, which would have increased the chances of the Taliban being accepted by international communities. However, Haneef Atmar, the foreign minister of Ghani‘s government, has confirmed in an interview that he still has Ghani‘s passports, indicating that Ghani left Afghanistan according to a pre–arranged plan and against the collective agreement of politicians. This suggests that Ghani did not take into consideration the well–being of the people of Afghanistan. Otherwise, he could have consulted them and asked for their opinion before transferring power.
After around 18 months, it is reported that Ashraf Ghani is writing his memoirs in his luxurious home in the United Arab Emirates. Although some secrets of the peace talks between him and the United States may be revealed in the book, they would not be reliable as Ghani has never been honest. Taking into account his political lies and economic programs over the past twenty years, especially during his seven years as president, it is fair to say that Ghani has been “a total fraud“. This is in line with the words of philosopher Karl Popper, who said “those who promise us paradise on earth never produce anything but a hell“.
Ghani and his followers like to be the center of attention and be talked about. This likely pleases him and will be beneficial when writing his biography. In a situation where there is no way to bring him and his team to justice, the best option is to ignore and neglect them. However, this should not be done to heal the sorrows of their destructive policies, but to facilitate further suffering due to their actions. Ghani presented himself as a democrat, but instead used his power to oppress, ignore laws, and waste the sacrifices of the Afghans. He was the cause of tyranny because he did not allow the law to be established, democracy to grow, and development and political stability to happen. Usually, tyranny is born from the inability of society to influence the government. The constitution may have emphasized democratic elections, but the government was not bound to it. All this allowed Ghani to take advantage of the country and consider himself the king.
