Five years after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the country’s last army chief of staff, General Haibatullah Alizai (pictured), has gone from commanding the nation’s armed forces to driving for Uber and Lyft in the Washington, DC, area.
The extraordinary change in fortunes was revealed in an interview Alizai gave to CBS News’ Face the Nation.
Alizai was appointed commander of the Afghan army during the final chaotic days of the US withdrawal in August 2021 and attempted to organise a defence against the rapidly advancing Taliban.
According to the Times of India report, Alizai said he had been working on plans to resist the Taliban but events moved faster than the Afghan government could respond.
He was appointed to lead the army only days before Kabul fell and was ordered to develop a plan to defend the capital. By then, however, the Taliban was rapidly taking control of territory across the country.
Alizai told CBS that he still believed the Afghan forces could have defended at least parts of the country, even after US and NATO forces began withdrawing.
The situation deteriorated dramatically on August 15, 2021, when Taliban fighters entered Kabul and then-President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Alizai said he continued to believe there was a reason to fight, noting that Afghan troops were still deployed in and around Kabul and in other parts of the country.
He subsequently spent several days at Kabul airport working alongside US forces during the frantic evacuation of American personnel and Afghans seeking to escape Taliban rule.
The former general’s own departure came suddenly.
He told CBS that on August 25, while he was still trying to organise resistance, US personnel arrived and informed those at the base that it was being closed and everyone had to leave within minutes.
Alizai changed into civilian clothes, covered his face and boarded a US military C-17 transport aircraft without initially knowing where it was headed. The aircraft eventually landed in Kuwait.
His evacuation marked the end of a military career that had placed him at the centre of Afghanistan’s final attempt to resist the Taliban.
From general to immigrant
After reaching the United States, Alizai was granted asylum. But his new life has been far removed from the position he once occupied in Afghanistan.
The former general told CBS that finding employment in the US has been difficult because of the extensive background checks and other procedures required for immigrants from war zones.
He now works as a ride-hailing driver in the Washington area.
Alizai said he sometimes spends 12 hours working for Uber and Lyft and can work even longer shifts.
His story reflects the difficult transition faced by many Afghans who were evacuated to the United States following the Taliban’s return to power.
For Alizai, the adjustment has also meant separation from his immediate family. His wife and three sons obtained asylum in India after leaving Afghanistan, but he said he remains unable to travel outside the United States and does not know when he will see them again.
‘We shared blood’
Despite the collapse of the Afghan government and the end of the US military presence, Alizai said he still regards the relationship between Afghan and American soldiers as significant.
He argued that Afghan forces and US troops had fought alongside each other for two decades and had paid a heavy price during the war.
Alizai also rejected the suggestion that the Afghan army simply collapsed because its soldiers were unwilling to fight.
He told CBS that Afghan troops had suffered huge losses during the conflict and blamed the final collapse largely on political decisions and negotiations with the Taliban.
The former general said he believed the long US-Afghan military partnership had achieved an important objective by preventing terrorist attacks on American soil for two decades.
He said he still had hope despite everything that happened.
Warning of an Islamic State attack
Alizai also recalled receiving intelligence warnings about a possible attack by Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) during the evacuation at Kabul airport.
According to the CBS interview cited by the Times of India, Afghan intelligence officials warned around August 22 or 23 that Islamic State militants were planning to target US forces.
The warning came days before an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked crowds outside Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26, killing 170 Afghans and 13 US service members.
Alizai had already left Afghanistan by the time of the bombing.
The US completed its military withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, bringing an end to America’s longest war and leaving the Taliban in control of the country.
Five years later, Alizai’s life in Washington offers a striking illustration of the upheaval created by the collapse of the Afghan government: a man who once commanded an entire army now works long shifts behind the wheel of a ride-hailing car while separated from his family and unable to return home.
The Times of India/CBS News
