United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had promised to fight to the death if the Taliban did not go along, he fled the country instead, local media reported.

Citing an interview to “CBS Face The Nation” talk-show, Dawn reported that Mr Blinken spoke to Mr Ghani on the night of August 14 and emphasised him on accepting to transfer the power to a Taliban-led government in Kabul which would have included all the aspects of the Afghan society.

In response, Mr Ghani assured of the same, however, he would be ready to fight to the death if the Taliban do not go along.

“And the very next day, he fled Afghanistan. So, I was engaged with President Ghani over many weeks, many months,” Dawn quoted Blinken as saying.

Mr Blinken also said that the US State Department was reviewing everything including the actions taken by the US administration to learn “every possible” lesson from the last 20 years, reported Dawn.

The Taliban had taken over Kabul on August 15 this year following which former President Ashraf Ghani had fled the nation.