In a TV interview with Afghan media outlet ABN, the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani claimed that the collapse of the republic government was due to "deals" made.

He accused former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, of not supporting the republican system, and former US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad of being a hypocrite.

“I stood until the edge of death, we had a cabinet meeting on that day (August 15), but (they) left the country and I wanted to visit the Ministry of Defense, the Minister of Defense landed the choppers before me. I was the last one to be forced to leave the country,” he said.

Ghani was also critical of the current government but said he would not support any armed resistance against the Islamic Emirate.

“I don’t support any resistance but I say that the path on which Afghanistan is going is in a wrong direction. But if the Taliban keeps going like this, many other fronts will be established because the Afghans are united,” Ghani said.

Ghani said that based on Afghanistan’s constitution, he is still the president of Afghanistan.

The political analysts offered comments on Ghani’s remarks:

“Ghani tried to play himself up as innocent with such remarks, but he is the one mainly responsible for the Afghan situation, and is responsible to the Afghans,” said Javid Sangdel, a political analyst.

“Ghani failed in his mission in Afghanistan. He didn’t see any other way but to escape, and therefore he chose to escape,” said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.

Earlier, many former Afghan officials, including former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, criticized Ghani for leaving the country.