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Kabul: Amrullah Saleh, the former vice-president of Afghanistan, who is presently driving the Resistance Front against Taliban in Panjshir Valley, has portrayed the grouping of situations that developed as Kabul tumbled to the outfit and how Afghan leadership deserted the people of the conflict assaulted country in the hour of need. Composing for UK newspaper Daily Mail, Saleh, 48, who has proclaimed himself as caretaker president of Afghanistan after the previous president Ashraf Ghani escaped the nation, says he believes those politicians who leave their country in moments of crisis betray its very soil.

He uncovered how Afghan officials went underground as opposed to battling the Taliban as the outfit fighters progressed towards Kabul last month. 

"The night before Kabul fell, the police chief called me to say there was a revolt inside the prison and the Taliban inmates were attempting to escape. I had created a network of non-Taliban prisoners. I called them, and they started a counter revolt on my orders within the prison,"  he writes in Daily Mail. 

"Mob control units were deployed along with some Afghan special forces and the situation in the prison was controlled," he adds. 

He said he tried to reach the then Minister of Defense Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, then, at that point Interior Minister, and their delegates on the morning of August 15. 

"But I could not find them. I did find very committed officials in both ministries who reported to me how they are not able to deploy the reserves or the commandoes to the frontlines," he describes. 

Saleh said he couldn't discover deployable Afghan soldiers anyplace in the city in "frantic hour". 

"I then spoke to the police chief of Kabul, a very brave man whom I wish all the best wherever he is. He informed me that the line in the east had fallen, two districts in the south had fallen, and the adjacent province of Wardak had fallen," he says. 

"He asked for my help in deploying commandoes. I asked him if he could hold the front with whatever resources he had for an hour,"  he adds. 

Saleh says he couldn't collect any soldiers to help the police chief. So he attempted to contact the presidential royal residence and previous National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib, however, it was of no use. 

"I called the Palace. I messaged our National Security Adviser to say we have to do something. I got no response from anyone. And by 9 am that morning of August 15, Kabul was panicking," he says. 

"The Intelligence Chief had visited me the evening before. I had asked him about his plan should the Taliban storm Kabul. 'My plan is to join you wherever you go,' he said. 'Even if we are blocked by the Taliban, we do our last battle together," he added. 

In an apparent swipe at former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other officials, Saleh said these politicians have 'double-crossed people". 

"They stay in these hotels and villas abroad and then they call on the poorest Afghans to revolt. That's craven. If we want a revolt, the revolt has to be led," he composes. 

"They may say now that they would have become martyrs had they remained in Afghanistan. Why not? We need leaders to become martyrs. They will say they would have been taken, prisoner. Why not? We need leaders to serve as prisoners," he adds. 

As no assistance and backing showed up from the public authority side, Saleh went to Ahmad Massoud, the son of his mentor Ahmed Shah Massoud. 

"Instead I sent a message to Ahmad Massoud, son of my mentor, the late Massoud. 'My brother, where are you?' He said: 'I'm in Kabul and planning my next move'. I told him I was also in Kabul and offered to join forces," he composes. 

Prior to leaving Kabul, Saleh returned home to annihilated photos of my wife and my little girls. 

"I then went through my home and destroyed pictures of my wife and my daughters. I collected my computer and some belongings. I asked my chief guard, Rahim, to place his hand on my Koran,"  he composes. 

"We are going to Panjshir and the road is already taken,' I told him. 'We will fight our way through. We will fight it together. But should I get injured, I have one request of you. Shoot me twice in my head. I don't want to surrender to the Taliban. Ever,"  he adds. 

Saleh says they got into an escort of a couple of reinforced vehicles and two pickup trucks with firearms mounted on them. The escort was assaulted twice en route to Panjhsir. 

"We crossed the northern pass with great difficulty because it has become a lawless territory. Thugs. Thieves. Taliban. We were attacked twice, but we survived. We fought our way with determination,"  he says. 

"When we reached Panjshir, we got a message that the elders of the community had gathered in the mosque. I spoke to them for an hour and afterward, each of them rose in support," he adds. 

Panjshir has been a tourist destination for a very long time, he says, adding "We had no tactical hardware, no ammo here". 

"But that night I drew up a strategy to toughen the province's defenses. Then I received a call informing me that Ahmed Massoud was heading to Panjshir by helicopter. I felt a surge of hope course through me. We had our first meeting to strategize that night," he adds. 

"Has it been easy to take up resistance? Absolutely not. I'm in a difficult situation, no doubt. I'm not made of steel I'm a human being. I have emotions. I'm aware that the Taliban want my head. But this is history. And we are in the center of the history,"  he notes.