Decision to flee Kabul made in ‘minutes’, says former Afghan president Ghani

Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani on Thursday described fleeing the Taliban’s victory march on Kabul, saying the choice had been taken in “minutes” and that he didn’t know he was leaving the nation till he was taking off.

Ghani informed BBC’s Radio 4 “Today” programme that on the morning of August 15, 2021, the day the Islamists took management of the capital and his personal authorities fell aside, he had “no inkling” that it could be his final day in Afghanistan.But by that afternoon safety on the presidential palace had “collapsed,” he stated.”If I take a stand they will all be killed, and they were not capable of defending me,” Ghani stated within the interview, performed by former UK chief of defence employees, General Nick Carter.His nationwide safety adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, was “literally terrified,” Ghani stated. “He did not give me more than two minutes.”He stated his directions had initially been to fly by helicopter to southeastern Khost metropolis.But Khost had fallen within the Islamists’ lightning offensive which noticed provincial capitals topple across the nation within the days forward of the withdrawal of worldwide forces, set for the top of August.The jap metropolis of Jalalabad, on the border with Pakistan, had additionally fallen, he stated.”I did not know where we will go,” Ghani stated.”Only when we took off did it become clear that we were leaving.”Ghani has been within the United Arab Emirates ever since.He has been extremely criticised in Afghanistan for leaving, with Afghans now trapped underneath the Taliban’s harsh rule accusing him of abandoning them — and of taking hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in money, a declare he “categorically” denied once more on Thursday.The former World Bank official has launched a number of earlier statements on his departure, admitting that he owed the Afghan individuals a proof. Thursday was his first interview.He stated once more that his first concern had been to forestall brutal avenue combating within the capital, already filled with tens of 1000’s of refugees fleeing violence elsewhere within the nation.And he stated his determination to go away was “the hardest thing”.”I had to sacrifice myself in order to save Kabul and to expose the situation for what it is: a violent coup, not a political agreement.”But even when he’d stayed, he stated, he couldn’t have modified the result, which has seen the Taliban set up their new regime because the nation faces one of many worst humanitarian crises in historical past.”Unfortunately I was painted in total black,” he stated. “It became an American issue. Not an Afghan issue.””My life work has been destroyed, my values have been trampled on and I’ve been made a scapegoat,” he stated. Afghans had “rightly” blamed him, he stated. “I completely understand that anger, because I share that anger.”