Afghanistan's Former President Explains Why He Fled Country

Ashraf Ghani told CNN Sunday that on Aug. 15, 2021, he was the last person to leave the presidential palace after his guards vanished as the Taliban were quickly approaching the capital city, Kabul.

Ghani told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that the minister of defense told him that Kabul could not be defended.

Ghani added that when he arrived at the ministry, it was empty. The minister of defense was on a plane, and he was the last to leave.

"The reason I left was that I did not want to give the Taliban and their supporters the pleasure of yet again humiliating an Afghan president," Ghani claimed.

Ghani's choice to flee ruined a last-minute deal the US had secured to keep the Taliban out of Kabul for at least two weeks, according to the State Department's special envoy to Afghanistan.

Last year, Ghani said that if he stayed, more Afghans would die and "bloodshed" would result.