KABUL: The former president of Afganistan, who fled the country last month as the Taliban entered Kabul, apologised Wednesday to the Afghan people, because “I could not make it end differently.”
Ashraf Ghani said in a statement that he left Kabul after palace security advised him that staying “risked setting off the same horrific street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s.”
He described leaving the capital city as “the most difficult decision of my life,” but said it was necessary “to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens.”
Ghani and his family are in the UAE after the country welcomed them on humanitarian grounds.
He has faced intense criticism for leaving the country.
A new Taliban provisional government drawn exclusively from loyalist ranks formally began work Wednesday, with established hardliners in all key posts and no women - despite previous assurances that they would form an inclusive administration for all Afghans.
The ex-president denied stealing millions from the treasury once again and said he welcomed “an official audit or financial investigation under UN auspices or any other appropriate independent body to prove the veracity of my statements.”
“My close aides are ready to submit their finances to public audit, and I would encourage and urge other former senior officials and political figures to do the same,” Ghani added.
He ended the statement by saying that his “commitment to the Afghan people has never wavered and will guide me for the rest of my life.”
