Ghani Says He Fled Afghanistan to Avoid Kabul Bloodshed

WASHINGTON - Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday he fled his country last month for the United Arab Emirates to avoid bloodshed in the streets of the capital of Kabul as Taliban insurgents took control. He denied plundering government funds as he left.

“I left at the urging of palace security, who advised me that to remain risked setting off the same horrific street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the civil war of the 1990s,” Ghani said in a statement. “Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her 6 million citizens.” The 72-year-old Ghani said he had worked for 20 years to create a democratic government in Afghanistan but acknowledged he had failed to ensure “stability and prosperity,” the same outcome as for other Afghan governments for decades. The UAE said it welcomed Ghani “on humanitarian grounds.”