Dubai – September 9 (Online): Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has apologised to the people of Afghanistan after fleeing to take refuge in the United Arab Emirates.
“Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life,” he said, adding that he was sorry he “could not make it end differently”.
Mr 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”.
He 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, Mr 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”.
He said he had devoted 20 years to helping Afghanistan become a “democratic, prosperous and sovereign state”.
Mr Ghani added that he had “deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors”.
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