CEO of Afghanistan’s Largest Media Organization Speaks Out

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Can I just first ask you, because you are involved also in some negotiations with Karzai and Abdullah, who are talking to the Taliban about a transition of power, is there anything you can tell us about that? Is that moving forward, and what would it look like?

SAAD MOHSENI, CEO, MOBY GROUP: Well, it had legs before I Ashraf Ghani fled. At the time, there was an opportunity for a two-week transition. The Taliban had pledged not to enter the city, because they also felt they didn’t have the capacity to keep a city of seven million people secure. But by fleeing, Ashraf Ghani triggered the collapse of the system. So, today, I’m not sure how much more President Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah can do. But I think they’re open to the idea of being helpful to the Taliban. They met with Mukati (ph), one of the military commanders, two nights ago. They met with Anas Haqqani earlier today. But I’m not sure how much leverage they have today, given that the Taliban have absolute control of the country.

AMANPOUR: Can I just quickly ask you, because you mentioned Ghani, I asked the Taliban spokesman what would have happened if he had been — if they had encountered him in the palace, and he said we would have secured his — guaranteed his security as long as he wasn’t trying to fight back or keep power. And he did mention, look, we have been guaranteeing the security of the former president as we talk to them. Are you saying there was really a chance, if Ghani had continued, because he made it a life-and-death choice for himself in terms of his first public statement, there was really a chance that somehow this group of Taliban, which you know, I know, we have all covered before, was actually going to enter some kind of transitional agreement, with all sorts of different factions of the Afghan people?

MOHSENI: From what I understand, Ashraf Ghani was promised by the international community that he would have a safe passage on the completion of the transition period, which would have been two weeks or a week or 10 days. But more important than that, as a president of a country, he should have taken into account the goodwill of his people and what was important for his nation. And he had pledged many times that he would never leave the country. But what he did was selfish, it was cowardly, and it did trigger what we’re seeing today. I mean, the scenes of the airport could have been avoided if Ashraf Ghani had stayed on. That’s what I believe, at least.