A Living Witness to History, or a President Who Should Have Stayed?
In his latest interview, Ashraf Ghani says he does not regret leaving Afghanistan. He says he wanted to remain a “living witness to history” and did not want to be forced to surrender with a gun pointed at his head.
But when I hear these words, I have one simple question:
Did the people of Afghanistan need their president to be a “witness to history,” or did they need him to lead the country?
Being president is easier during peaceful times. There is power, the presidential palace, security guards, armored vehicles, and official respect. But the true value of leadership becomes clear when everything is falling apart.
Leaving the presidential palace to save Ashraf Ghani’s life may be understandable. No one can demand that a person stay and be killed.
But the main issue is not why he saved himself.
The question is why, before leaving, there was no clear plan for transferring power and maintaining the leadership of the country.
He was not an ordinary citizen. He was the president and commander in chief of Afghanistan’s armed forces. Thousands of soldiers, police officers, government employees, and millions of people did not know what would happen to their country the next day.
When the head of a country suddenly leaves, it is not only a chair that becomes empty. Trust collapses.
A soldier asks himself: Who am I fighting for?
A government employee asks: Who is making the decisions?
The people ask: If our leaders have left, where are we supposed to go?
Of course, the fall of Afghanistan was not only Ashraf Ghani’s responsibility. The Doha Agreement, the decisions of the United States and NATO, the growing strength of the Taliban, the weakness of the security forces, corruption, political divisions, and the mistakes of many leaders all played a role in this tragedy.
But the responsibility of others does not erase the responsibility of the president.
Ashraf Ghani says he wanted to stay alive so he could tell the story himself.
But history does not only listen to what leaders say.
History also looks at the consequences of their decisions.
Perhaps the main question for history is not why Ashraf Ghani stayed alive.
The question is this:
In the final hours when a republic was collapsing, what did its president do to prevent that collapse?
Noor Wodjouatt
