Dubai: The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said that it has welcomed ousted Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country.
“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,” read a brief statement on the ministry’s website.
Ghani’s whereabouts have been the subject of much speculation since he fled from Afghanistan on Sunday, as the Taliban entered capital Kabul in the final stage to wrap up a 10-day lightning offensive across the country.
Take a look: The rise and fall of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
On Sunday, a senior Interior Ministry official said Ghani had left for Tajikistan. A Foreign Ministry official said his location was unknown and the Taliban said it was checking his whereabouts.
Meanwhile, foreign media reports on Afghanistan contacting the Interpol and asking it to arrest Ghani began to surface earlier today.
According to Forbes, the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan made the demand on charges of Ghani “stealing from the country’s treasury”.
It has also demanded the arrest of former Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib and
Russia’s embassy in Kabul on Monday said that Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported.
Russia has said it will retain a diplomatic presence in Kabul and hopes to develop ties with the Taliban even as it says it is no rush to recognise them as the country’s rulers and will closely observe their behaviour.
“As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA.
“Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” he was quoted as saying.
Ischenko, the Russian embassy spokesman, confirmed his comments to Reuters. He cited “witnesses” as the source of his information. Reuters could not independently confirm the veracity of his account immediately.
President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said earlier it was unclear how much money the fleeing government would leave behind. Web Desk
