'Accept Taliban to avoid instability,' says ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's brother Hashmat Ghani

Hashmat Ghani, brother of Afghanistan's deposed President Ashraf Ghani, says he has accepted the Taliban's takeover of the country but has called for the formation of an inclusive government.

 He said that the new order in Kabul was a necessity "for the people of Afghanistan" at a time when foreign forces are only days away from their final withdrawal, reports the Al Jazeera. 

Hashmat Ghani, a businessman and grand chieftain of Afghanistan's nomadic Kochi population, has been meeting Taliban leaders for the past several days. He said he agreed to recognise the transition of power as a signal to influential political and cultural figures, as well as businesspeople.

He said if businesspeople who had invested millions in schools, hospitals, stores, universities and other entrepreneurial efforts joined the tens of thousands of people trying to flee the country it would be "devastating" to the country's economy and overall future.

Though his brother, the former president, fled on 15 August, the younger Ghani says he never had any intention to leave the country.

"If I were to flee there what would become of my people, my tribe … My roots are here, what kind of message would that send if I just fled and left my people in their time of need?" he said.

Of his brother's absconding, Ghani says he is glad the former president at least left with his life intact.

"If he had gotten assassinated or killed in any way, things would have gotten much worse."

Meanwhile, the pictures and paintings in Hashmat Ghani's house remain untouched, as do the large, flatscreen televisions.

During its rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned television and any art depicting people and television. One of Ghani's paintings even depicts the chasm left behind after the group blew up the ancient Buddha statues in the central province of Bamiyan in 2001.