Taliban officials: there will be no transitional government in Afghanistan

KABUL: Two Taliban officials told Reuters on Sunday there would be no transitional government in Afghanistan and that the group expects a complete handover of power.

President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan after Taliban fighters entered the capital Kabul earlier on Sunday, capping their return to power two decades after being forced out by U.S.-led forces.

The government’s acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, had said that power would be handed over to a transitional administration.

Ashraf Ghani resigns

In a major development, Ashraf Ghani has reportedly tendered his resignation as the Afghan president and left the country to Tajikistan, according to foreign media reports on Sunday.

India media reports said that Ashraf Ghani has resigned as the Afghan president. Moreover, some British media reports also claimed that Ashraf Ghani has departed to Tajikistan after resigning as the Afghan president.

“President Ghani has left the country,” Tolo News reported while quoting sources privy to the development. Ashraf has left the country along with his close aides, it added.

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A senior Afghan Interior Ministry official said on Sunday Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has left the capital Kabul for Tajikistan, Reuters reported.

Asked for comment, the president’s office said it “cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani’s movement for security reasons”.

A representative of the Taliban, which entered the capital Kabul earlier on Sunday, said the group was checking on Ghani’s whereabouts.

Earlier in the day, Taliban have begun entering the Afghan capital Kabul from all sides, the Afghan interior ministry said on Sunday, as the US and European Union staff sought safety.

After its lightning advance on the capital, the Taliban group ordered its fighters to refrain from violence, allow safe passage to anyone seeking to leave and request women to head to protected areas, said a Taliban leader in Doha.