Exiled Ghani apologizes to Afghan people

FILE PHOTO: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani makes an address about the latest developments in the country from exile in United Arab Emirates, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video on August 18, 2021. Facebook/Ashraf Ghani/via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul as Taliban forces reached the outskirts of the city last month, apologized on Wednesday for the abrupt fall of his government but denied that he had taken millions of dollars with him.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Ghani said he had left at the urging of his security team who said that if he stayed there was a risk of "the same horrific street-to-street figting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s."