Speaking from exile in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani rubbished reports of escaping with "suitcases of cash". He said it was all part of a "personality assasination".
Ghani said he had to leave Afghanistan in order to prevent bloodshed in Kabul at the hands of the Taliban. “If I had stayed, I would have been witnessing bloodshed in Kabul,” he added.
Ghani further said he had to leave the war-torn country because he was forced by his security. However, he said he left behind his main assets and “confidential documents”.
Watch Video:
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Ambassador to Tajikistan, Mohammad Zahir Agbar, has claimed that President Ashraf Ghani had "taken $169 million with him" when he fled Afghanistan.
He said that Ghani should be arrested and the wealth of the Afghan nation be restored, Ozodi reported.
Speaking at a news conference in Dushanbe on Wednesday, Agbar called Ghani's escape a "betrayal of the state and the nation" and claimed that he had "taken $169 million with him".
Agbar announced that Amrullah Saleh, Ashraf Ghani's first deputy, was legally the President of Afghanistan now.
"Ashraf Ghani handed Afghanistan over to the Taliban. We had more than 350,000 equipped troops, experienced military personnel, and they did not fight the Taliban. And we saw this in part in the northern regions of Afghanistan that border Tajikistan. There are more than 20 districts there. And they went over to the Taliban without mounting any resistance," Agbar said in an interview with Eurasianet.
"I think Ghani had a prior agreement with the Taliban. He already had a plan for betrayal in his head. He abandoned his supporters and betrayed the people of Afghanistan," he added.
For the unversed, Ghani had fled Afghanistan just as the Taliban approached Kabul on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, it was reported that he had left for Tajikistan amid the Taliban takeover. Later, reports said that he was in Oman after Tajikistan denied landing.
However, on Wednesday, the UAE said it has "welcomed" Ghani and his family into the country on "humanitarian grounds".
"UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirms that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds," read the statement.
