Ashraf Ghani can return to Afghanistan, Taliban leader says

Shafaq News/ The Taliban have extended their amnesty to include Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Vice President Amrullah Saleh allowing them to return to Afghanistan if they want. 

"We forgive Ashraf Ghani, Amrullah Saleh, and Hamdullah Mohib," the senior Taliban leader Khalil ur Rahman Haqqani said in an exclusive interview with Geo News," adding that enmity between the Taliban and the three Afghani officials was only based on religion.

Haqqani urged people fleeing the country not to do so, adding that the "enemy" was spreading propaganda that the Taliban will exact revenge on them.

He said that the Taliban had achieved a huge victory over “their enemies,” adding that the Afghanistan Army consisted of 350,000 troops and was supported by the US, NATO, and other countries.

Haqqani said the Taliban wanted all Muslim countries to reconcile together. He advised countries worldwide to provide rights to their citizens, adding that an inclusive Afghan government will be formed in Afghanistan.

"Highly capable, educated people will form the government in Afghanistan," he pledged. "People who unite the masses will be included in the new government."

Around 20 people have reportedly died in the past seven days at and or near Afghanistan's Kabul airport during the evacuation effort, a NATO official told Reuters on Sunday (August 22, 2021) as civilians are forced to flee the war-torn country since Taliban insurgents took over the capital last week.