‘Afghan leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban’

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has blamed Afghanistanrsquos political and military leadership for the quick collapse of the former governmentStoltenberg said the US and NATO are not responsible for the collapse of the former government TOLO News reported on SundayldquoParts of the Afghan security forces fought bravely But they were unable to secure the country Because ultimately the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wantedldquoThis failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing todayrdquo he said According to Stoltenberg the withdrawal of the USNATO soldiers was preplanned and it was not a cause for the collapse of the Afghan staterdquoldquoWe never intended to stay in Afghanistan forever Over the past few years from over 100000 troops we went down to less than 10000 mdash and now to zerordquoldquoBut what we have seen in the last few weeks was a military and political collapse at a speed which had not been anticipatedrdquo he addedThe Taliban however blamed the US and NATO for the collapse of the former government saying that Washington and the Alliance used Afghanistan to reach their own goalsldquoWhen the Americans left the administration collapsed automatically Therefore they are responsible for this crisisrdquo said Abdulhaq Emad a Taliban officialPak runs commercial flight to KabulPakistanrsquos national flagcarrier on Monday ran its first commercial flight to Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in midAugust The Pakistan International Airline PIA flight mdash PK 6429 mdash took foreign journalists to Kabul and returned with a team of World Bank and international media organisations Radio Pakistan reportedQatari FM meets Taliban leadershipVisiting Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammed bin Abdulrahman AlThani met the Taliban leadership and cabinet members including acting PM Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund upon his arrival in Kabul AlThani has visited Kabul several times since the Taliban takeover but this is his first trip after the Taliban announced their caretaker government Khaama News reportedlsquoKabulrsquos response not up to expectationsrsquoFrancersquos foreign minister has expressed disappointment in Afghanistanrsquos newly formed Taliban government saying the group so far has failed to live up to its promises of offering a more moderate and inclusive style of leadership Speaking alongside his Qatari counterpart during a visit to Doha on Monday JeanYves Le Drian said ldquoThe response we have seen from Kabul so far is not up to our expectationsrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever