Fazel fled the Taliban – along with the president

In general, the whole world followed how the notorious Taliban took up Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on August 2021.

As they entered the presidential palace, Afghans in panic tried to flee the brutal board by getting to the airport. In the coming weeks, people clung to the aircraft to get out.

At the same time, afternoon, August 15, announced that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had moved in a helicopter. It wasn’t long before there were charges that he had brought large parts of the Treasury. The criticism and disappointment were huge that the Afghan leadership gave up.

Went to work – then it started to be shot

It has been longer hidden in obscurity what happened those hours inside the presidential palace.

Less known was that a Swedish-Afghan physician, who has been President Ashraf Ghani’s right hand for several years, was also part of one of the helicopters. Now he exclusively tells his version of what led to one of the world’s biggest failures.

– That day, October 15, I went to work as usual. Then it started to be shot near the palace where I was. President Ashraf Ghani did not want to leave, but his security officer made the decision. Everything happened in a few minutes, says Fazel Fazly.

Lived in a parallel reality

Fazel Fazly came to Sweden in 2009 and started working as a doctor. At a distance, he followed the situation in Afghanistan. When it was election in 2014, Fazel Fazly began to help Ashraf Ghani with a campaign on social media. The president won and took power after the charismatic Hamid Karzai.

– We lived in a parallel reality because we were a democracy on paper but in reality it was the old warlords who had power, it was very complicated, he says.

Time and time again, President Fazel Fazly asked to come to Afghanistan. Only in 2018 did he go there and first became Ashraf Ghani’s adviser and later his chief of staff. That is, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful but also one of the more dirty and criticized – both during their work and after the flight.

The fact that the Taliban took power after 20 years of war is seen as one of the world’s greatest failures. Fazel Fazly believes that many are blamed.

– We, the Afghan government, have some of the responsibility but also the outside world, he says.

Trump’s big miss

He believes that one of the major mistakes was that during his previous presidency, Donald Trump’s administration began peace negotiations with the Taliban – without the Afghan government.

– The United States could have left Afghanistan without giving the Taliban so much credibility, says Fazel Fazly.

It has been more than 3.5 years since the Taliban took over power. Again a regime notorious for its extremely hard restrictions for women.

– When I see that Genderarapartheid is going on in Afghanistan, I want to continue to try to reintroduce democratic values, says Fazel Fazly.