Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
While Taliban has captured Afganistan, Ashraf Ghani the Afghanistan President has taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates.
Ghani’s escape was a mystery for some time as people had no idea where he left for leaving the Afgani people in limbo. As the Taliban advanced on its capital city Kabul over the weekend, there were no reports where Gani is.
The UAE’s foreign ministry has however now confirmed they have welcomed Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds. There had been rumours that Ghani might have fled to Tajikistan. There are also unconfirmed reports that he had a large amount of money with him.
In a Facebook post addressed to Afghan citizens Ghani said he made the difficult decision to leave to avoid bloodshed in the capital city. But people in Afganistan continue to suffer.
Gani faced intense criticism from other Afghan politicians for leaving the country. “God will hold him accountable and the nation will also judge,” said Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation.
US President Joe Biden also criticized Afghanistan’s government for fleeing. The US continues to refer to Ghani as president saying that there has not been a formal handover of power. Ghani came into office in 2014 and was re-elected in February 2020.
It is not the first time a leader has sought refuge in the UAE. Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto lived in exile there for several years before she was assassinated in her home country in 2007.
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Kabul was the last major city in Afghanistan to hold out against the Taliban offensive, which began months ago but has accelerated in the space of days as they rapidly gained control of territories.
Ashraf Ghani is a former technocrat who spent much of his career outside Afghanistan, before returning to help the country rebuild after years of war. He came into office in 2014 seen as incorruptible and hands-on too much so.
