A year after the Taliban took over, Ashraf Ghani defended his decision to leave Kabul

 One year after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday once again defended his decision to leave the country suddenly and secretly.

According to the American news agency Associated Press, in an interview with CNN, Ashraf Ghani said that he left Kabul without resistance because he did not want to be dishonored by surrendering to the Taliban.

Ashraf Ghani said that when the Taliban reached the gates of Kabul on August 15, they were left alone in the Afghan presidential palace because their guards had also disappeared.

He further said that on the same day, the Defense Minister told him that the defense of Kabul was not possible.

Ashraf Ghani has defended his escape from the presidential palace in Kabul without resisting the Taliban in the past, but during an interview on Sunday, he shared many details about it.

He claimed that a cook in his palace was offered a bribe of one hundred thousand dollars to poison him. "That's why I felt that the environment around me was no longer safe."

"I left Kabul because I didn't want to give the Taliban and their supporters another opportunity to insult the president of Afghanistan and force him to sign the legitimacy of my government."

According to him, he was never scared.

According to critics, after Ashraf Ghani abruptly and secretly left Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the country became disoriented as NATO and US forces were in the final stages of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Ashraf Ghani also denied the frequent allegation that he took millions of dollars in cash in a helicopter while leaving Afghanistan.

Last week, a committee of the US Congress said in its report that Ashraf Ghani and his associates do not seem to have taken such a large amount of money in a helicopter.

It should be noted that on the completion of one year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the Taliban government has announced a public holiday on August 15.

According to the announcement issued by the Taliban government, a public holiday will be held in the whole country on August 15, on the completion of one year of the Islamic Emirate and the liberation of Afghanistan from the American occupation.

It should be remembered that after the withdrawal of American forces last year, the Taliban recaptured the Afghan capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021.