Ashraf Ghani: Afghan president who failed to make peace with the Taliban
- President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan as the Taliban swept into the capital Kabul
- His departure leaves a vacuum that the Islamist insurgent group is expected to fill quickly
Ashraf Ghani, who left Afghanistan on Sunday following the Taliban’s rapid advance through the country and into Kabul, was twice elected Afghan president, and is one of the country’s best-known academics.
President Ghani left the country hours after the Taliban entered the capital, government officials said. It was not yet clear where he was headed, or how power would be transferred.
First elected president in 2014, Ghani took over from Hamid Karzai, who led Afghanistan after the US-led invasion in 2001, and oversaw the conclusion of the US combat mission, the near-complete withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, as well as a fractious peace process with the insurgent Taliban.
He made the effort to end decades of war his top priority, despite continuing attacks on his government and security forces by the Taliban, and began peace talks with the insurgents in the Qatari capital of Doha in 2020.
However, Ghani, known for his quick temper alongside his deep thinking, was never accepted by the Taliban and peace talks made little headway.