According to Ghani, he had just few minutes to decide to flee in the hours before the Taliban took control of the capital in August.

According to the account of the Afghan and US officials, there was an agreement between the Taliban and Ghani to have a peaceful transfer of power but Ghani has disputed that account, saying he had no choice but to abruptly leave Kabul as the Taliban closed in. Speaking in a BBC interview on Thursday, December 30, Ghani said that an adviser gave him just minutes to decide to abandon the capital, Kabul. He also denied widespread accusations that he left Afghanistan with millions in stolen money. Speaking in a BBC interview on Thursday, December 30, Ghani said that an adviser gave him just minutes to decide to abandon the capital, Kabul. He also denied widespread accusations that he left Afghanistan with millions in stolen money.

Ghani’s sudden and secret departure on August 15 left the city in state of confusion as US and NATO forces were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country after 20 years.

“On the morning of that day, I had no inkling that by late afternoon I would be leaving,” Ghani told BBC radio.

But Ghani in his radio interview with British General Sir Nick Carter, former chief of defence staff, said he fled “to prevent the destruction of Kabul”, claiming two rival Taliban factions were advancing on the city and were ready to enter a bitter battle for control

There was no evidence upon the Taliban entry of the rival factions Ghani referred to

Ghani’s flight meant an orderly transfer of power was not possible, and allowed the Taliban to simply fill the security vacuum. Many Afghans now accuse Ghani, who is now living in the United Arab Emirates, of simply handing them over to the Taliban.

The Taliban quickly took control of the as Afghan government forces surrendered or ran away.

According to humanitarian aid workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Taliban moved to protect their compounds.

US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko has been tasked with investigating those allegations.

After being told by his national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib that his personal protection forces were not capable of defending him, Ghani said he decided to leave.

Mohib, who “was literally terrified”, gave him just two minutes to decide whether to leave, Ghani said, insisting he was not sure where he would be taken even after he was on the helicopter getting ready to take off.

However this doesn’t correlate with what Former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press news agency in an interview earlier this month. He said that Ghani’s departure scuttled the opportunity for government negotiators, including himself and peace council chairman Abdullah Abdullah, to reach an eleventh-hour agreement with the Taliban, who had committed to staying outside the capital.

Karzai said that after calling then-Defence Minister Bismillah Khan, the interior minister and the police chief, and discovering all had fled the capital, Karzai said he invited the Taliban into Kabul “to protect the population so that the country, the city doesn’t fall into chaos and the unwanted elements who would probably loot the country, loot shops”.

Ghani abruptly left Afghanistan as Taliban militants advanced on the capital on 15 August. Reports say he fled to UAE with about $169m (£123m) but he has denied those allegations.

Ghani said on his social media handle “Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, I’m sorry I could not make it end differently. I left at the urging of the palace security, who advised me that to stay risked setting off the same street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the civil war of the 1990s”

He added that he did so to “save Kabul and her six million citizens”. He said he had devoted 20 years to helping Afghanistan become a “democratic, prosperous and sovereign state”.

He added that he had “deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors”. In a live Facebook address on 18 August, Mr Ghani said he was “forced” to leave Afghanistan by his security team because “there was a real chance that I would be captured and killed”.

He said that when the Taliban entered the presidential palace in Kabul, “they started looking for me from room to room”. Denying claims that he had taken a large amount of money with him when he left the country, Ghani said he was “not even allowed to take his sandals off and put his shoes on”.

Ghani ran for his life as Taliban forces entered Kabul on Sunday, August 15.

Speaking from exile today, in his first public comment since it was confirmed he is in the United Arab Emirates, Ghani said he had left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.

He said ‘What had happened 25 years ago in Afghanistan was going to take place again. That was something that needed to be avoided, a shameful development like that, the dignity of Afghanistan was important for me, and that was to be ensured, so I had to leave Afghanistan in order to present bloodshed, in order to make sure that a huge disaster (was) prevented. When it comes to the political leadership of the Taliban, it was a failure on their part and a failure on our part that the negotiations did not lead to anything, the peace process should lead to the end of war. I left on the advice of government officials, Kabul should not be turned into another Yemen or Syria overpower struggles so I was forced to leave. I left with just a waistcoat and some clothes. The personality assassination against me has been ongoing, saying that I have taken money with me, the accusations are baseless lies. You can even ask customs officials – they are baseless. Currently, I am in the UAE so that disasters are avoided. I’m in consultation with others until I (can) return so that I can continue my efforts for justice for the Afghans.’

Ghani fled the country on Sunday night to avoid bloodshed, as the Taliban closed in on the capital Kabul. He reportedly took with him four cars and a helicopter loaded with $169million in bags of cash – but was forced to leave some of the money behind as it would not all fit in the flight.

Earlier reports said Ghani had fled to Uzbekistan, citing Russian Embassy sources. It was also claimed that the former president had flown to Tajikistan, but diverted to Oman when officials in Dushanbe refused him permission to land.

Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the embassy, said: ‘As for the collapse of the regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan.

‘Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac’.

But the United Arab Emirates said today that it was hosting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Dubai ‘on humanitarian grounds’

The UAE said in a statement: ‘The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds’.

Surprisingly, Afghanistan’s Vice President Amrullah Saleh stayed back in the country and retreated to his hometown in the Panjshir Valley – the only region the Taliban have not conquered. He is said to be massing troops to resist the militants.

The Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan, which reportedly refused Ghani refuge, has removed the former president’s picture and replaced it with Saleh.

Government officials, one from former President Hamid Karzai’s office and another an aide on the Afghan security council, told The Associated Press that Ghani departed the country on Sunday, August 15.

Ghani left along with his National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib and a second close associate.

The escape of Ghani comes after the Taliban captured US-made helicopters and Russian made planes in preparation for an attack on Kabul, the country’s capital of 3 million people that houses the government and foreign embassies.

The Taliban said it would further enter Kabul on Sunday night after spending hours on the city’s outskirts. Reports from Kabul say local police have deserted their posts.

The breakdown of law and order in Afghanistan comes as a major foreign policy failure for Joe Biden who announced the withdrawal of US Troops from the country thereby emboldening the militant group. After spending 20 years fighting the Taliban and training over 300,000 Afghan soldiers, the US still finds itself at stage one – a Taliban controlled country that could house Al-Qaeda terrorists who could plot attacks against the West.

In the past one week, the Taliban has captured over 60 per cent of the country and with the president fleeing, and foreign troops evacuating their Diplomatic staff, the total control of Afghanistan by the Taliban is now a matter of when and not if.