Former chess chief blames Taliban for dragging Afghanistan back into past with use of terror

Former Afghan National Chess Federation General-Secretary Mohibi Abasin on Wednesday blamed the Taliban for dragging Afghanistan back into the past with the use of terror.

"Leaders of the Taliban say one thing but resort to the opposite. According to them, they are building a new Afghanistan, but with the use of terror (between 50 and 60 people go missing in the country every day) they are trying to hurl the country back into the past and resurrect the old order," Abasin said, reported TASS.

According to him, prior to the Taliban's seizure of Kabul, he received a letter from the 'Haqqani network' terrorist organization, in which they demanded that he cease teaching children to play chess and sending boys and girls abroad for chess tournaments.

Abasin said he believes that Afghanistan has no future under Taliban rule. "Terrorists of different stripes have now found shelter in the country under the protection of the current authorities," he revealed, reported TASS.

He also noted that the Taliban managed to establish control over the country because the previous authorities, which were governed by tribal clans, were completely corrupted.

"Under the previous administration, soldiers were paid a salary of USD 150, but even such modest salaries, according to Afghan standards, were paid out with a considerable delay and this is why soldiers were reluctant to fight for the authorities, they were stealing fuel, ammo, weapons and then sold them to the Taliban," he noted.

In his opinion, the majority of Afghans dread the Taliban and it is unlikely that anyone would dare oppose them in the foreseeable future, reported TASS.

"The majority of educated and cultured Afghans have already fled the country and this tendency still remains," Abasin pointed out. "By the way, in recent years they have warmly reminisced about the 'Shuravi,' Soviet soldiers, who today are recounted through hundreds of schools, plants, and factories."

Abasin was lucky to flee Kabul for Tashkent together with his wife and three children on August 14, just one day before the Taliban seized the Afghan capital.

"I owe my salvation to FIDE (the World Chess Federation) President Arkady Dvorkovich and the management of Uzbekistan's Chess Federation as they helped me to obtain a one-year visa to enter Uzbekistan. It was FIDE's motto in action -- 'We are one family'," Abasin, who also serves as a member of the FIDE Medical Commission, said in an interview with TASS.

On August 15, Taliban fighters swept into Kabul without encountering any resistance and gained full control over the Afghan capital within a few hours.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said he had stepped down to prevent any bloodshed and subsequently fled the country.

On September 6, the Taliban declared a complete victory over Afghanistan and on September 7 formed an interim government that hasn't yet been officially recognized by any country.

( With inputs from ANI )