Former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled to the UAE before the Taliban seized power last month, on Wednesday apologised to the people for leaving the country abruptly.
In a statement, Ghani said he believed it was the "only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her six million people." Ghani, who has been criticised for leaving Afghans to an uncertain fate under the Taliban, also denied reports that he left Kabul with millions of dollars in cash from the treasury.
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"I owe the Afghan people an explanation for leaving Kabul abruptly on August 15 after Taliban unexpectedly enter the city. I left at the urging of the palace security who advised me that to remain risked setting off the same horrific street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s," Ghani said in a statement that he shared on Twitter.
Reiterating that his commitment to the Afghan people has never wavered and will guide him for the rest of his life, Ghani apologised that he "could not make it end differently".
Calling the decision to leave, "the most difficult", Ghani insisted that it was the only way to keep the guns silent.
Ghani's statement came a day after the Taliban announced an interim government. The cabinet is led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who is on a UN blacklist. Another figure, Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the dreaded Haqqani Network, is wanted by the FBI.
Ghani left Afghanistan as the Taliban advanced on the capital city Kabul on August 15. Three days later, the UAE's foreign ministry said the country had welcomed Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds.