DUBAI — Days after fleeing Afghanistan, former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani surfaced in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, the Persian Gulf nation’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“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 statement released Wednesday evening said.
It remains unclear where the 72-year-old Ghani is in the UAE and whether he plans to remain in the country. Previous reports indicated that he had fled the Afghan capital, Kabul, just as the Taliban entered the city, heading with his family and senior officials to neighboring Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, and possibly then to Oman.
Inside Afghanistan, Ghani has been widely condemned by even his staunchest supporters for abandoning the country as the Taliban took control. In a Facebook post Monday, Ghani defended his actions, insisting that he left Afghanistan to prevent “bloodshed.” He described his departure as “a hard choice” and said the Taliban had “won with the judgment of their swords and guns.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/18/afghanistan-kabul-taliban-live-updates/
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