Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh noted on Tuesday that he was considered the acting head of state under the constitution, considering the fact that President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Saleh wrote this on his Twitter page.
"As per the constitution of Afghanistan, in absence, escape, resignation or death of the President the FVP [first vice president] becomes the caretaker President. I am currently inside my country and am the legitimate caretaker President. Am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support and consensus," he tweeted.
The politician called to "join the resistance" against the Taliban and stressed that he would never bow to the militants.
He called on Afghans to show that Afghanistan "isn't Vietnam & the Talibs aren't even remotely like Vietcong".
A video of desperate Afghans trying to clamber onto a U.S. military plane as it was about to take off bore evoked a photograph in 1975 of people trying to get on a helicopter on a roof in Saigon during the withdrawal from Vietnam.
Saleh said that unlike the United States and NATO, "We haven't lost spirit & see enormous opportunities ahead. Useless caveats are finished, JOIN THE RESISTANCE."
Saleh, whose whereabouts were unknown, said that he would "under no circumstances bow" to "the Talib terrorists." He said he would "never betray" Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance who was assassinated by two al Qaeda operatives just before 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Earlier last week, Saleh said at a security meeting he was proud of the armed forces, and the government would do all it could to strengthen the resistance to the Taliban. But the country fell to the Taliban in days, rather than the months foreseen by the U.S. intelligence.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Saleh said that it was "futile" to argue with U.S. President Joe Biden who has decided to pull out U.S. forces.
After the main part of the Western military contingent was pulled out of the country, the radical movement launched a large-scale offensive to establish control over the country. On August 15, Taliban militants entered Kabul without a fight and took over the city in a matter of hours. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stepped down to avoid bloodshed, as he put it, and fled the country. Western states are currently evacuating their citizens and embassy staffers.