Afghan President Was Politically Isolated Before Slipping Into Exile

Ashraf Ghani quietly fled his country without telling political leaders who were negotiating a peaceful transition with the Taliban, who've now taken over.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani slipped out of his country Sunday in the same way he had led it in recent years — a lonely and isolated figure. Ghani quietly left the sprawling presidential palace with a small coterie of confidants — and didn’t even tell other political leaders who had been negotiating a peaceful transition of power with the Taliban that he was heading for the exit. Abdullah Abdullah, his long-time rival who had twice buried his animosity to partner with Ghani in government, said that “God will hold him accountable” for abandoning the capital.