Afghan president Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in an exclusive interview with BBC dismissed fears of a Taliban military victory. “This is not Vietnam; this is not a government that is collapsing.”

“They have not been able to achieve any of their two aims for the last six years, either to bring the government down, finish our security forces or second divide Afghanistan geography into two,” Ghani asserted.

He added that “it is time that the Taliban and their supporters show the same will for seeking peace as they have demonstrated in seeking conflict.”

The Afghan president is now facing growing calls for an interim government to bring the Taliban into power and avoid a descent into chaos and a possible civil war.

“The republic is a system that runs by the will of the people. The source of legitimacy of the next government has to be absolutely clear, it has to be the will of the people of Afghanistan,” he said.

He later praised Afghan security forces for playing major part in ensuring security of their own country and added: “What I am extraordinary proud of is of our defense and security forces, now it is an organized force, particularly the special forces, the commandos, the air force. We have come to our own. Over 90 percent of the operations are being done by us and NATO and US forces are truly in a supporting role.”

Arezo News