The ex-Afghan president assures that his flight from Kabul was not prepared

Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani assured Thursday, December 30 that his decision to flee Kabul on August 15 in front of the Taliban had been taken "

" and that he did not know until his plane took off that he was leaving his country.

Read also Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan

On the morning of August 15, as the Taliban took control of the capital and his government collapsed, he had "

" that this would be his last day in Afghanistan, he said in his first statement. interview since his departure, granted to the BBC. But in the afternoon, the security services of the presidential palace "

", continued Ashraf Ghani. "

."

His national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, was "

".

“

” to leave, he said.

The cities of Khost, in the south-east, and Jalalabad, in the east, having fallen into the hands of the Islamists, "

", he added.

"

."

Read alsoFor Washington, the flight of the Afghan president has derailed a transition agreement

Ashraf Ghani has lived in the United Arab Emirates since then. His flight was severely criticized by Afghans, who accused him of having abandoned them by taking significant funds in the process, which he once again denied on Thursday. He reiterated that his first concern had been to avoid street fighting in Kabul already overrun by refugees who had fled violence in the rest of Afghanistan. "

."

And Ashraf Ghani clarified that even if he had stayed in Afghanistan, he would not have changed the course of things.

"

" my values, and they made me a scapegoat, "he said.

Admitting that the Afghans had blamed him "

", he added: "

".