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Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan

To understand President Joe Biden’s decision to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/25/22402539/afghanistan-military-withdrawal-final-biden-september-11th">withdraw troops from Afghanistan</a> against the advice of the US military establishment, you need to go back to a debate that played out more than a decade ago, during the early years of Barack Obama’s presidency.
In 2009, the new Obama administration debated whether to “surge” troop levels in Afghanistan after nearly eight years of war had failed to quell the insurgency from the overthrown Taliban forces. Top generals asked early that year for 17,000 more US troops and then, having gotten those, asked for an additional 40,000 to try to weaken the Taliban and strengthen the Afghan government.
Then-Vice President Biden was consistently one of the biggest skeptics of the military’s recommendations. Throughout months of debate, he repeatedly raised the inconvenient point that the generals’ preferred strategy seemed extremely unlikely to lead to actual victory. “We have not thought through our strategic goals!” he shouted during the Obama administration’s first meeting on the war in Afghanistan.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1629307163_4909_64853" data-cdata='{"asset_id":22788609,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qeoqZ5OZWP0YNV3mYmdgG26La-0=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j4-P_vWh442LMW390hf1P39EoZs=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yOLhoZmo5syocd2ZQiOFiOL3n4I=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/XuKwg1qZzijaZ99eGM_P8sB6ts8=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KCF32hEA4r5CDsuq_X_V0fbS7v4=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AxOlulPxLF1GOCuR3hskUGr8BPk=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7J7DfhDtyNuqnHqUSYU9hB_4HLA=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WZ2R-MK6s-OiPHDxxsee0U2ENP8=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1Db9xlin74yBWXOTgBh-jHI9HPg=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="3000" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X1dzMcyOkpoRc5qyrvoDSkUvYQY=/0x0:3000x2000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZKAAvPS3BZ8fWcDFrw_YA0B3IqY=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fJhdr2_UE5_c0wZf9mZajyaoz2w=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rGvuRTRHmcEiqNXjwKnhWxFImO0=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Uw6YlFJsMclPVJ_GEaDCQ1DkmLc=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/LMpUsbdBQxuavevuypH16xVkRtE=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0IYlVhCNVvAIpV1oxKbmR_wTW08=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9mGscxQZhsnd5MZn_SQX9Odyhig=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vFD9YVHtoH1I_G16g5fE05gOqqc=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/g9gWpXN7krhIZ7ewqwLNPFwQ1XE=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788609/GettyImages_566466263_copy.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton attend an Afghanistan policy review in the White House Situation Room on October 9, 2009.</figcaption>
<cite>Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</cite></figure>
All this was documented at the time in Bob Woodward’s deeply reported 2010 book <a data-cdata="{"rewritten_url":"https://www.amazon.com/Obamas-Wars-Bob-Woodward/dp/1439172501?ascsubtag=[]vx[p]22393176[m]m-placeholder[s]s-placeholder[t]w[c]c-placeholder[r]r-placeholder[d]d-placeholder","subtag_max_length":99,"subtag_delim_length":2,"subtag_key":"ascsubtag","subtag_data":{"ascsubtag":"[]vx[p]22393176[m]m-placeholder[s]s-placeholder[t]w[c]c-placeholder[r]r-placeholder[d]d-placeholder"},"encode_subtag":false}" has-subtag="true" href="https://www.amazon.com/Obamas-Wars-Bob-Woodward/dp/1439172501">Obama’s Wars</a>. Biden did not actually support withdrawal at the time — he pushed for a more limited mission focused on counterterrorism, accompanied by a smaller troop surge than the military wanted.
But his dark view of the long-term picture was clearly vindicated in the decade since. Now that Biden is president and has actually withdrawn from the war — leading to a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan — it’s worth revisiting that past debate, as outlined in Woodward’s book, to understand why his mind was so firmly made up.
The US initially invaded Afghanistan in 2001 because its Taliban regime had sheltered Osama bin Laden’s terrorist group al-Qaeda; the military deposed the Taliban and sent bin Laden fleeing from the country by the end of that year.
After that, Americans became distracted by a separate war of choice in Iraq, while a Taliban insurgency brewed in Afghanistan and terrorist groups relocated to Pakistan and other countries.
So a grueling, months-long debate unfolded during Obama’s first year in office over what, exactly, the US’s goals should then be in Afghanistan, and whether many more troops were needed to accomplish them. Woodward chronicles this debate in Obama’s Wars in exhaustive detail. Military leaders wanted tens of thousands more troops to implement an expansive counterinsurgency mission in an effort to stabilize the country, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/12/16/143832121/as-the-iraq-war-ends-reassessing-the-u-s-surge">as had just been done</a> in Iraq.
Biden didn’t buy it. At every step, he tried to argue for less — for a more limited mission than the military was asking for. During meetings, this often made him the skunk at the garden party as he made a few noteworthy arguments:
Building a functioning nation-state in Afghanistan was impossible. Woodward writes that during one October meeting, Biden asked the generals, “If the government’s a criminal syndicate a year from now, how will troops make a difference?” He followed up with, “If a year from now there is no demonstrable progress in governance, what do we do?” He didn’t receive a convincing answer to either question.
Later on, he wrote memos to Obama arguing for “no full counterinsurgency” and “no nation-building.” He thought the military’s goals of strengthening Afghanistan’s military and police force were doomed. And he said the following at a meeting with National Security Council leaders, per Woodward:
<blockquote>
Historically, [Biden] said, it’s been very difficult—impossible—for foreign interventions to prevail in Afghanistan. With tens of thousands of troops on the ground already, if we can’t do it with this number and we don’t have a reliable partner in the Afghanistan government, then it seems irresponsible to inject additional troops on top of that. We’re just prolonging failure at that point, he said.
</blockquote>
The Afghan Taliban posed little threat to the US homeland. Biden wrote a six-page memo to Obama in which he questioned intelligence reports portraying the Taliban as a new al-Qaeda recruiting foreign fighters that posed a transnational terrorist threat. “Biden indicated that, based on the way he read the intelligence reports, the phenomenon was grossly exaggerated,” Woodward writes. “The vice president did not see evidence that the Pashtun Taliban projected a global jihadist ideology, let alone designs on the American homeland.”
At a meeting discussing the US strategy in Afghanistan, Biden asked, “Is there any evidence the Afghan Taliban advocates attacks outside of Afghanistan and on the U.S., or if it took over more of Afghanistan it would have more of an outward focus?” An intelligence official responded that there was no evidence.
The fall of Afghanistan’s government wouldn’t be so bad. Woodward describes a phone conversation between the president and vice president near the end of the review, during which Biden said, “it would not be that bad if the Karzai government fell.” The book does not elaborate on what exactly Biden meant by this, but Obama disagreed, arguing that “the downside was too great.”
Biden diagnosed the problems well, and he was likely the high-level official most skeptical of the Afghanistan war in the Obama administration. But though his logic arguably pointed toward a withdrawal of troops in the near future, he didn’t argue for that — it simply seemed too unpalatable. Officials were not ready to stomach the Taliban retaking the country.
Instead, Biden proposed a smaller surge of 20,000 troops rather than 40,000, with a mission of “counterterrorism” as opposed to counterinsurgency. (Think targeting terrorists rather than nation-building.) The military fired back that that would be insufficient. Obama <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/asia/02prexy.html">ended up agreeing</a> to send 30,000 troops and satisfy most of the military’s demands, in part because he did not want to “break with” then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Woodward writes.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1629307163_1681_64854" data-cdata='{"asset_id":22788621,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-mf3i63q8sB3I3832uVtvtYINSQ=/0x0:3000x1999/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/s62REzVimlKyIM-OngUZliurAAU=/0x0:3000x1999/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VHRsIN25gc2lK7z7lPd4fz4pBGI=/0x0:3000x1999/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4_cnq_LzdhjktsSIgJY4A41h17o=/0x0:3000x1999/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-cZQsBzkIDQQrElADkcgZqecT54=/0x0:3000x1999/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wRCr_vzfjBZWKoOwOLJh7FYRT68=/0x0:3000x1999/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nOFYj0PaBv04J3XbGU_xhk4l5mo=/0x0:3000x1999/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/J1YJAMjPTHMnWdd6T5U-tmgJQzg=/0x0:3000x1999/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JIS8PL_cVGyf3lxb3RqIW2Yw8pg=/0x0:3000x1999/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="3000" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/moKZMjMaqYOa-Zcp7r-k3xkPDHs=/0x0:3000x1999/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/RUCl6j0Yadssc_pfXWLpT2DB3n4=/0x0:3000x1999/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mh28g51KDKpU7yo7RP23b3RqmaE=/0x0:3000x1999/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/96tDrTG9HFgRo8OgR6q4aVek0q4=/0x0:3000x1999/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9DQSj2LKqXO8-SF3mJMwgwE2vJw=/0x0:3000x1999/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/x4P4yrnf6_adoQ_lpPTskIYJdpw=/0x0:3000x1999/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5s-y2E7swnMOHLcZ_oqk09ibU10=/0x0:3000x1999/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8NHBcERAppeLQQNd59prxDwezL4=/0x0:3000x1999/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CWjQpuKoZBJ21s-su_2Ytj1rr1c=/0x0:3000x1999/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Nmy29OeDPhO6mvdwAGAS1d5IPMA=/0x0:3000x1999/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x1999):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22788621/GettyImages_1180052179_copy.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Then-Vice President Joe Biden visits members of the Afghan National Army at a training center in Kabul on January 11, 2011.</figcaption>
<cite>Shah Marai/AFP via Getty Images</cite></figure>
After a few years with the heavily expanded troop presence that, as Biden predicted, did not result in Afghanistan becoming a functioning government or in security forces capable of defeating the Taliban, Obama began a troop drawdown in his second term. Since then, US policy has essentially been to kick the can down the road.
In 2015, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/10/15/9539565/afghanistan-obama">then-Vox staffer Max Fisher wrote</a>, “The war is already lost, and has been for years,” adding that the only remaining mission was “to temporarily stave off Afghanistan’s inevitable collapse, a few months at a time.”
Former President Donald Trump continued that can-kicking until 2020, when he reached <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51689443">a deal</a> with the Taliban to end the war. It then fell on Biden to decide whether to stick with that arrangement. He did so — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/us/politics/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal.html">rejecting advice from his generals</a> — and a Taliban takeover has now occurred. But his decision was no doubt grounded in the fact that he’s had these debates before.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/18/22629135/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal-reasons">https://www.vox.com/2021/8/18/22629135/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal-reasons</a>

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Dutch Airlift Jet Leaves Kabul Without Any Dutch Nationals

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Dutch Airlift Jet Leaves Kabul Without Any Dutch Nationals" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/unhfsgls_emergency-shelter_625x300_18_August_21.jpg" title="Dutch Airlift Jet Leaves Kabul Without Any Dutch Nationals" /></div>
An emergency shelter is being setup at Willem Lodewijk van Nassaukazerne prior to arrival of evacuees
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The Hague, Netherlands:
The first Dutch evacuation flight since the Taliban takeover left Kabul without a single Dutch or Afghan national on board after passengers were blocked by US troops, the Netherlands said Wednesday.
The US military allowed the Dutch jet to stay on the tarmac in the Afghan capital for just 30 minutes before ordering it to take off on Tuesday, foreign minister Sigrid Kaag said.
Around 40 people were able to board the plane but none were Dutch or Afghan, with many people unable to get to the plane on time as they were stuck outside the US-guarded gates to the airport.
"Many people were there with their children, with their families. They were there at the entrance of the airport. It's terrible," Kaag was quoted as saying by the Dutch news agency ANP.
Kaag was due to speak to the Americans to prevent a repeat of the situation, and would also discuss the matter with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday, ANP said.
One Dutch national of Afghan origin told NOS public television that he failed to gain entry to the boarding gate in time because it was being guarded by US soldiers.
"I showed my passport and I said I was Dutch. There was a lot of noise, and I couldn't hear what the American was saying very well," the man said.
"After saying three times that I was Dutch, he told me to keep my distance otherwise he would shoot. I decided to leave. I didn't want to risk being shot."
A medical student identified only as Musa told NOS he had been summoned by email by the Dutch foreign ministry to go to the north entrance of the airport but US troops threatened to shoot people who turned up at the gate.
The Dutch foreign minister said that she "wanted the Americans to give us more time".
"We will continue in a European context to work for better coordination," Kaag said.
The Netherlands managed to evacuate their first nationals on Wednesday.
A plane left Kabul with around 35 Dutch as well as Belgian, German and British nationals en route for the Georgian capital Tblisi, the Dutch defence ministry said on Twitter.
Afghans and foreigners have been desperately trying to flee the country since the Taliban's comeback, with the United States and other nations stepping up evacuation airlifts from Kabul.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dutch-airlift-jet-leaves-kabul-without-any-dutch-nationals-2513523">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dutch-airlift-jet-leaves-kabul-without-any-dutch-nationals-2513523</a>

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"Welcomed Ashraf Ghani, Family On Humanitarian Grounds": UAE

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Welcomed Ashraf Ghani, Family On Humanitarian Grounds': UAE" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/h9p517i8_afghan-president-ashraf-ghani-reuters-650_625x300_19_August_18.jpg" title="'Welcomed Ashraf Ghani, Family On Humanitarian Grounds': UAE" /></div>
Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan on Sunday as Taliban entered the capital Kabul (File)
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New Delhi:
The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday that it is hosting former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani "on humanitarian grounds", after he fled his country amid a Taliban takeover.
"The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds," it said in a brief statement.
Ghani fled Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban closed in on Kabul, before the insurgents walked into the Afghan capital unopposed.
In a Facebook post, Ghani said the "Taliban have won" and that he fled to avoid a "flood of bloodshed".
His whereabouts were unknown until Wednesday, with speculation that he had fled to Tajiktan, Uzbejistan or Oman.
This would not be the first time that the oil-rich Gulf country opens its arms to former leaders and their relatives, now persona non grata in their country.
In 2017, the emirate of Dubai hosted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.
Spain's king Juan Carlos went into self-exile in the UAE in August last year as questions mounted over the origins of his fortune, and the UAE was Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's home during her eight years in exile before she was assassinated in her home country in 2007.
The UAE is one of three nations, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which recognised the previous Taliban regime, which ruled from 1996 to 2001.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/afghanistan-president-ashraf-ghani-family-in-uae-after-fleeing-kabul-2513501">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/afghanistan-president-ashraf-ghani-family-in-uae-after-fleeing-kabul-2513501</a>

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UNHCR Issues Non-Return Advisory For Afghanistan

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Commuters make their way along a road in Kabul on August 18, 2021 (File)
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Geneva:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has released a non-return advisory for Afghanistan, calling for a bar on forced returns of Afghan nationals, including asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected.
In the wake of the deteriorating security and human rights situation in large parts of the country, UNHCR called on states to halt forcible returns of Afghan nationals who have previously been determined not to be in need of international protection.
UNHCR said it was concerned about the risk of human rights violations against civilians in this evolving context, including women and girls, those perceived to have a current or past association with the Afghan government, international organizations or with the international military forces.
UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said that since the beginning of the year, more than 550,000 Afghans have been internally displaced as a result of conflict and insecurity.
While civilians have so far only fled sporadically in fewer numbers to countries neighbouring Afghanistan, the situation continues to evolve rapidly, she said.
As the situation remains fluid and uncertain, UNHCR called for access to the territory to allow civilians fleeing Afghanistan and to ensure respect for the principle of non-refoulment at all times - the prohibition on returning people to situations of danger.
"States have a legal and moral responsibility to allow those fleeing Afghanistan to seek safety, and to not forcibly return refugees," she said.
UNHCR has welcomed the recent actions taken by several states to temporarily halt deportations of failed asylum-seekers.
UNHCR's advisory against forced returns to Afghanistan will remain in effect until security, rule of law and human rights conditions improve enough in the country to allow for safe and dignified returns.
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news world UNHCR Issues Non-Return Advisory For Afghanistan

Commuters make their way along a road in Kabul on August 18, 2021 (File) Geneva: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has released a non-retur...