Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement on Facebook Sunday that he left the country in order to avoid bloodshed.
He said that he faced a hard choice “to stand to face the armed Taliban who wanted to enter the palace or leave the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years.”
He insisted that if he had stayed, the result would have been a ”big human disaster” in Kabul for its six million residents.
Ghani added that the Taliban has “won the judgement of sword and guns and now they are responsible for protecting the countrymen's honor, wealth and self-esteem.”
But he stressed that “it is necessary for the Taliban to assure all the people, nations, different sectors, sisters and women of Afghanistan to win the legitimacy and the hearts of the people,” suggesting they should “make a clear plan… and share it with the public."
Ghani did not disclose details on his current location, although NBC News reported that he was in Amman, Jordan, while Al Jazeera stated that he was in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.