Former president Ashraf Ghani’s escape from Afghanistan in mid-August ruined a last-minute deal with the Taliban, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview with the Financial Times.

According to Khalilzad, the plan was to keep Kabul out of the Taliban’s hands and negotiate a political transition, but Ghani’s escape created a power vacuum and the Taliban entered the city, the Financial Times reported.

“Even at the end, we had an agreement with the Talibs for [them] not to enter Kabul,” Khalilzad said.