Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani detailed fleeing the Taliban's triumphant march on Kabul on Thursday, saying the decision was made in "minutes" and that he didn't realise he was leaving the nation until he was about to take flight.

Ghani told the BBC's "Today" show that he had "no idea" that the morning of August 15, 2021, when Islamists gained control of the city and his own administration came apart, would be his last day in Afghanistan. Security at the presidential palace, however, had "collapsed" by that afternoon, he claimed.

"If I take a stand, they'll all be murdered, and they weren't capable of protecting me," Ghani stated in the interview, which was conducted by General Nick Carter, a former UK chief of defence staff. Hamdullah Mohib, his national security advisor, was "actually afraid," according to Ghani. "He didn't even give me two minutes."

He said that his initial orders were to fly by helicopter to Khost city's southern outskirts. Khost, on the other hand, had fallen victim to the Islamists' lightning attack, which saw provincial capitals around the country fall in the days leading up to the international forces' planned pullout at the end of August. He also claimed that the eastern city of Jalalabad, on the Pakistani border, had fallen.

"I had no idea where we were going," Ghani said. "It wasn't until we took off that we realised we were going." Since then, Ghani has resided in the United Arab Emirates. Afghans currently imprisoned under the Taliban's brutal rule accuse him of abandoning them — and of collecting millions of dollars in cash, which he "categorically" refuted on Thursday. In prior statements about his departure, the former World Bank executive admitted that he owed the Afghan people an explanation. His first interview occurred on Thursday.

He reiterated that my top priority had been to prevent horrific street fighting in the capital, which was already crowded with tens of thousands of refugees fleeing violence elsewhere in the nation. And he said that leaving was "the toughest thing" he had ever done. "I had to put my life on the line to defend Kabul and expose the situation for what it is: a violent coup rather than a political accord."

He added that even if he had stayed, he couldn't have changed the outcome, which saw the Taliban establish their new dictatorship while the country faced one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in history.

"Unfortunately, I was completely blacked out," he explained. "It became a national issue in the United States. This isn't an Afghan problem." He stated, "My life's work has been ruined, my ideals have been stomped on, and I've been made a scapegoat." He said that Afghans had "rightly" blamed him. "I absolutely understand your rage since I feel the same way."

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