'He fled only with clothes he was wearing': Former Afghan official backs Ashraf Ghani

Speaking to CNN, the official, who chose to remain anonymous, said the intelligence was that in the event of Taliban seizing power, Ghani would be killed.

Ashraf Ghani, the ousted president of Afghanistan who fled from his country on August 15 as the Taliban captured Kabul, has been accused of taking away with him "four cars and a chopper full of cash." Ghani, who has since surfaced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has denied these allegations, and now a former official, who held a senior position in the Afghan government under Ghani, has backed the ousted president who, he said, "fled with only the clothes he was wearing."

The former official, who chose to remain anonymous, told CNN Ghani's advisors were "stunned at the speed of Taliban's advance towards Kabul." The official further said, " In the days leading up to the Taliban coming in Kabul, we were working on a deal with the US to handover peacefully to an inclusive government for president Ghani to resign."

Explaining the reason behind Ghani's escape, the official said that the intelligence, for well over a year, was that in the event of the Taliban seizing power, the president would be killed. "The talks with the US were underway when the Taliban entered Kabul. Their entry from multiple points was interpreted as hostile advances by our intelligence," he further said.

Ghani, the official said, "left in haste," first going to Termez in Uzbekistan and then to the UAE, adding that he had no money with him.

On Amrullah Saleh, who was the first vice president under Ghani and has since declared himself as the caretaker president of Afghanistan in accordance with the Constitution, the official said he escaped to the Panjshir Valley on the morning of August 15. Saleh, who was among the first officials to leave Kabul, was initially believed to have fled to Tajikistan, but has since been spotted in Panjshir, the one province in the country to have never fallen to the Taliban.

This is for the second time when the Taliban regime has seized power in Afghanistan, after ruling it from 1996-2001. That rule ended with the defeat at the hands of the US-led troops, who were sent to Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks. However, in April this year, US president Joe Biden gave instructions to pull out the American troops by August 31, thus ending their near two-decade stint in the war-torn nation. This prompted the Taliban's advance towards Kabul, and their subsequent victory.

(With agency inputs)