Internal betrayal may have occurred in Afghanistan, America has completely destroyed its prestige, and a purely Taliban rule will pose a threat to the entire region - among other things, Mohammad Ali Samay, who comes from a family that cooperates with the Hungarians and lives in Budapest, talks about this.

Mohammad Ali Samay's family and their construction company in Pul-e Homri once participated in several Hungarian projects: Mohammad studied Hungarian at the Balassi Institute from 2008, then graduated from Corvinus University, and is currently writing his PhD thesis on the dynamics of Eurasian security policy cooperation there.

***

Now everyone is surprised at how fast the Taliban's operation was to capture the country. Did it surprise you?

In recent days, there have been more and more Afghan news reports about betrayals. In the Office of the President of the Republic, people who were in control of some government areas betrayed their government. In Mazar-i-Sharif, for example, local governors and influential politicians were preparing to fight against the Taliban, but

local military commanders received orders from the National Security Council to surrender the city.

They are not under the Minister of National Defense or the Chief of Staff, but under the National Security Council, because this body appointed them to their posts. So the soldiers gave up the fight and the Taliban captured the local politicians. Those of them who were able to escape to Uzbekistan made a statement in the press. They are talking about the same thing in Herat province, the soldiers left the fight on orders from Kabul.

Who do you think organized the betrayal? Members of the National Security Council?

Yes, National Security Council advisers. This body also appointed the district police commanders, not the Minister of Defense.

Why did they do it? For money, to save their lives?

There was a governor who worked at the National Security Council two months ago, was close to the president of the republic, was appointed governor, and now we see that he accompanied the Taliban and handed over the city to them. This information indicates that

it could have been a background deal, these were organized in the background.

The head of state and the defense minister also left the country, they were victims of betrayal. The Americans made an agreement with the Taliban in 2020, the text has a secret clause that is not known to the public. The president of the republic spent half his life in America, his national security advisor grew up in Pakistan, he did his PhD in England: as soon as he arrived in Afghanistan, he became ambassador to America, and then became the president's advisor. He surrounded himself with advisers who did not know the country, many of whom did not even speak the language. Almost all government people were Pashtuns, and people of other ethnicities could hardly hold important positions in the government. In addition, the head of state came to power in 2014 and 2019 through fraud. Abdullah Abdullah won both votes, but because of American support, Asraf Ghani still became the president.

The Afghan government army showed much weaker military resistance than could be expected based on its armament and training. What are the reasons for this beyond the supposed betrayal?

Another reason could be that it was two or three years old in the name of rejuvenation

about six thousand military, police, secret service leaders and generals were forced into retirement

- people who spent thirty to forty years in combat, had combat experience against the Taliban. In their place, they did not appoint professional soldiers, but people who passed through rapid training and were promoted, or civilians who graduated from university, were appointed as district governors or police captains. A young man in his thirties was recently appointed chief of staff, who served a total of six to seven years in the Ministry of National Defense alone.

Beyond these factors, where was the fighting morale?

The Afghan army has about 360 thousand soldiers, the Taliban forces have 40-45 thousand armed: 500 soldiers fled from 10 Taliban. This happened.

Who are the Taliban? It is an Islamist movement. But how do the population recognize them?

For years, the Americans fought against the Taliban in the name of the fight against terrorism. As of 2020, the use of words in the American media has changed: the Taliban are not terrorists because they do not want a world caliphate, they only want to establish an Islamist system in Afghanistan.

So a terrorist who only wants to kill locally is not a terrorist? They said otherwise before.

In the last twenty years, the Taliban have committed suicide attacks, bombed schools, roads, and institutions, killed off-duty soldiers, beheaded people - there are recordings of this.

the full interview of Tamás Maráczi HERE .

Photo: AFP / Members of the Taliban delegation in Qatar.