Emotions ran high in Wednesday's session of Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) as MPs questioned the real reason behind the collapse of Kunduz city on Monday to the Taliban.
On Tuesday, MPs summoned security officials including National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Rahmatullah Nabil, Interior Minister Noorulhaq Olomi, acting Defense Minister Masoom Stanikzai, National Security Advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar and the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) chief Ghulam Jailani Popal to answer questions and give details on the Kunduz crisis.
First to arrive was NDS chief Rahmatullah Nabil who faced a barrage of questions from angry MPs over why nothing had been done to secure Kunduz despite months of growing insecurity in the city.
Nabil spoke on camera for only two minutes before the session was closed to the media.
He opened by apologizing to MPs and to the nation for what has happened but praised the city's local NDS forces for having continued to work and provide accurate and detailed information about the situation on the ground.
He told MPs however, that if they remember correctly he addressed them a few months back and told them of the deteriorating security situation in Kunduz city. He said that a month ago over 700 commandos were deployed to Kunduz airport where they have since been stationed.
An operation was meant to have been launched but due to classified reasons he was not able to divulge details.
MPs demanded answers and said Nabil should then hold a meeting with them in private.
This was agreed to and media feeds were disconnected.
At the same time, Interior Minister Noorulhaq Olomi arrived in parliament.
Leading up to Nabil's arrival however, MPs spent over an hour voicing their concerns and at times emotions ran extremely high over the Kunduz issue.
They accused government of not having done anything to prevent the crisis despite it being common knowledge that the city had been on the verge of collapse for a while.
One MP however, drove home the fact that it was the innocent Kunduz civilians paying the price as they were falling victim to the Taliban's brutality.
"Kunduz residents are in serious danger," he said.
Questions surrounding the reasons for the city's collapse were many with one MP saying that an investigation needs to be conducted to find out exactly who is behind the crisis.
He said that government needs to find out exactly where the Taliban is getting their weapons from – whether it is just from Pakistan or whether other sources are involved.
He said: "Differences between Kunduz local officials and security forces led to fall of the city and a deal was struck".
Another MP pointed out that despite there being a crisis within the ranks of the Taliban over leadership issues following reports of the death of Mullah Omar, the insurgent group was still able to carry out a coordinated siege of the city.
He said it was imperative that a minister of defense now be appointed.
According to him, government needs to take note that over the past two days, the Taliban has seized large quantities of military equipment in Kunduz including armored vehicles, tanks and weapons.
He also drove home the point that the nation must not show any sympathy towards the Taliban, who he says has killed thousands of innocent people.
Another MP said the leaders of the National Unity Government need to acknowledge foreign fighters are involved in the Afghan war and they need to name their supporters.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/4236
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