Ousted Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani has taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf nation confirmed, Sky News reports.
In a statement, the UAE foreign ministry said Mr. Ghani and his family had been welcomed on “humanitarian grounds”.
It is the first time Mr. Ghani’s whereabouts have been confirmed. It had previously been reported he had originally gone to Tajikistan.
However, the US has continued to refer to him as “President Ghani”, with the State Department saying that there has not been a formal handover of power.
Mr. Ghani came into office in 2014 and was re-elected in February 2020.
Following his departure from Afghanistan as the Taliban swooped into the capital virtually unopposed on Sunday, the Russian embassy in Kabul reportedly said he left with four cars and a helicopter full of money and had to leave some cash behind as it would not all fit in.
“As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” embassy spokesman Nikita Ishchenko was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
“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 reportedly said.
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