Afghan President Ashraf Ghani minced no words as he detailed the challenges facing his war-ravaged country.
“This is the worst job on Earth,” Ghani told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in an exclusive interview in Kabul.
Afghanistan has been at war for almost 16 years now, yet the Afghan president was bullish about how long the country would continue to require the support of NATO. NATO troops, Ghani said, would be able to pull out “within four years”.
About 14,000 NATO troops remain in the war-torn country to “train, advise and assist” Afghan forces. The aim had been to strengthen them so they could take the battle to the Taliban.“We were like 12-year-olds taking on the responsibility of a 30-year-old, but we really grew in the process. Now in terms of management and leadership things are really falling into place,” he said.
The Afghan president added, “Within four years, we think our security forces would be able to do the constitutional thing, which is the claim of the legitimate monopoly of power.”
He expected that some foreign troops would remain in Afghanistan after that period as part of the global fight against terrorism. When the BBC asked whether he was saying Afghan forces had turned the corner in the fight against the Taliban, there is no hesitation: “Yes,” Ghani said.
The Taliban, he said, had two strategic aims: to overthrow the government or to create two “political geographies”, by which he means whole areas of the country where it holds sway. “It has failed miserably in both of these aims,” Ghani upheld.
According to the report, the latest figures from the US military show that the Afghan government controlled less than two-thirds of the country. The rest was either controlled or contested by the Taliban and other militant groups.
In 2016, Kabul lost some 10 per cent of its entire fighting force: about 7,000 Afghan National Army soldiers were killed, another 12,000 were injured, and many thousands more deserted.
The Afghan government was not fighting a civil war, Ghani argued, but a drug war. “Taliban is the largest exporters of heroin to the world. Why is the world not focusing on heroin? Is this an ideological war or is this a drug war?” asked the Afghan president. “This criminalisation of the economy needs to be addressed.”
When the BBC asked about the ultimate aim, he said, “A peace agreement with the Taliban.”
“The whole aim of the strategy is to provide the ground for a political solution and a political solution is a negotiated solution. It is imperative that the people are given a chance to live their lives. We have been denied breathing space for 40 years, and in an immense tribute to our people for their resilience, any other state would’ve been completely broken.”
Ghani also praised US President Donald Trump, who finally announced last month that his government was ready to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. Withdrawal, said Trump, would be determined by “conditions on the ground and not arbitrary timetables”. The US president also said he would send a few thousand more troops to support the current Nato mission.
“The first principle of tackling corruption,” Ghani told the BBC, “is that you do not engage in it and you have the will to confront it. Whoever engages in corruption, regardless of affiliation, relationship etc., must be subject to the same law.”
“A three-star general that I have promoted is now in prison because it was demonstrated that fuel was being stolen,” he boasts. “One of the richest men in the country that people thought was untouchable is now in prison. You can ask anyone in the judiciary, I provide full political support.”
The Afghan president’s message was clear: “Self-reliance is not just words, but deeds.” With two years to go before a general election, Ghani said he did not care if the price of his reform efforts is his presidency.
“If the election is your goal, you’re never going to engage in reform. Reform has to be your goal. The election is the means. You run for office in order to do something, not in order to perpetuate yourself. Politicians have become extraordinarily conservative, but our times require imagination and bold action.”
