Afghanistan's former president who fled as the Taliban seized Kabul has claimed his actions saved lives.
Ashraf Ghani said more blood would have been spilled had he resisted the militants, who apparently broke a pledge to stay out of the capital after taking control of the rest of the country earlier this year.
Afghanistan is facing a humanitarian crisis with charities warning a million children could die of starvation this winter.
Yet in an interview with the former chief of the UK’s Armed Forces on Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, Mr Ghani said he’d prevented Kabul’s destruction.
‘Two factions of the Taliban were closing in from two directions,’ he said.
‘The possibility of a conflict between them that would destroy the city and bring havoc to the people was enormous.
'On the morning of that day [August 15], I had no inkling I’d be leaving.
'My security advisers told me they’d be killed if I stayed.
'I was given two minutes to make up my mind.’
Speaking to General Sir Nick Carter, Mr Ghani, now in the UAE, denied claims he stole public money before fleeing.
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