Ex-Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani Apologises For Fleeing To UAE, Allowing Taliban Take Over

By Tunde Serano On Sep 9, 2021

Afghan President Ghani Fled With Four Cars, Helicopter Full Of Cash - Russia — Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani.

Former Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani has apologised to the people of his country after fleeing to take refuge in the United Arab Emirates amid Taliban take over of power.

“Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life,” he said, adding that he was sorry he “could not make it end differently“.

Ghani abruptly left Afghanistan as Taliban militants advanced on the capital on 15 August.

He said he had not intended to abandon his people but “it was the only way“.

The former President also again denied the “baseless” allegations that he had travelled to the UAE with about $169m (£123m).

In a statement shared on Twitter on Wednesday, Ghani said he had no choice but to leave the country in order to avoid widespread violence.

“I left at the urging of the palace security, who advised me that to stay risked setting off the same street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the civil war of the 1990s,” he wrote, adding that he did so to “save Kabul and her six million citizens“.

Ghani stressed that he had devoted 20 years to helping Afghanistan become a “democratic, prosperous and sovereign state“.

He added that he had “deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors“.

The 72-year-old former president, who has faced intense criticism from other Afghan politicians for leaving the country, said he would address the “events leading up to my departure” in the near future.

In a live Facebook address on 18 August, Mr Ghani said he was “forced” to leave Afghanistan by his security team because “there was a real chance that I would be captured and killed“.

He said that when the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul, “they started looking for me from room to room“.

Denying claims that Ghani had taken a large amount of money with him when he left the country, he expressed that he was “not even allowed to take my sandals off and put my shoes on“.

Earlier this week the Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in a sweeping offensive more than three weeks ago, announced the formation of an all-male interim government to rule the country.