Afghanistan’s ex-president Ashraf Ghani says he is ‘in talks to return’
- The former leader is being hosted by the United Arab Emirates on ‘humanitarian grounds’ after fleeing the country in face of the Taliban advance
- Ghani said he had left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace
.png?itok=arIb17P0)
Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday that he was “in talks to return” home after seeking refuge in the United Arab Emirates.
In a video streamed on Facebook, his first public comments since it was confirmed he was in the UAE, Ghani said he had left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.
Ghani has been bitterly criticised by former ministers for leaving the country suddenly as Taliban forces entered Kabul on Sunday.
“If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul,” Ghani said, adding that he had left on the advice of government officials.
03:33
Afghanistan’s ex-president Ashraf Ghani denies fleeing with money, says he’s ‘in talks to return'
In the video message, the exiled politician also said he supported talks between the Taliban and top former government officials. The militants, who have pledged a different sort of rule in Afghanistan from their brutal regime two decades ago, met former president Hamid Karzai and senior official Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday as they seek to form a government.
“I support the government initiative of ongoing negotiations with Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai. I want the success of this process,” Ghani said.
“The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds,” the ministry said in a brief statement.
Russia says Ghani fled with cars, helicopter full of cash
Until Wednesday, speculation had mounted that Ghani had fled to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan or Oman.
The Taliban capped a staggeringly fast rout of Afghanistan’s major cities in just 10 days, achieved with relatively little bloodshed, following two decades of war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
US-led forces invaded the country following the September 11 attacks in 2001, in response to the Taliban giving sanctuary to al-Qaeda, and toppled them.
03:04
Afghan-Americans worry after Taliban takes control of Afghanistan
This would not be the first time that the UAE, an oil-rich Gulf country, opens its arms to former leaders and their relatives, now persona non grata in their country.
The UAE is one of three nations, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which recognised the previous hardline Taliban regime, which ruled from 1996 to 2001.
Ghani was elected in 2014 on promises to remake Afghanistan. But the 72-year-old may ultimately be remembered for making little headway against the deep-rooted government corruption that underwrote his demise.
In his last years in office, Ghani watched as he was first cut off from talks between Washington and the Taliban that paved the way for the US exit from Afghanistan, and then forced by his American allies to release 5,000 hardened insurgents to lock down a peace deal that never materialised.
Dismissed as a “puppet” by the Taliban, Ghani was left with little leverage during his final months in the presidential palace, and resorted to delivering televised diatribes that did little to improve his reputation with Afghans.
Additional reporting by Reuters
