MONITORING (SW) – President in exile Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has vowed to return to Afghanistan to “continue his struggle for people’s rights and values.”
In a maiden video statement after showing up in the UAE, Ghani lent support for ongoing talks by former President Hamid Karzai and top peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah with the Taliban.
On Sunday, Ghani left the country as the Taliban seized control of the capital Kabul.
“I am proud of our security forces, they have not been defeated, we were defeat on the political front. It was the failure of the government’s leadership, the Taliban leadership and the international community. It was the failure of the peace process,” he said.
“I wanted to transfer the power to the Taliban peacefully. But I was evicted from Afghanistan against my will.
“I was told the Taliban are in Kabul … There was an agreement that the Taliban would not enter Kabul. But they did. I didn’t want to be hanged because, as a president, I am the honor of Afghanistan. I am not scared of death,” he said.
He said that he does not intend to escape from the country or live in exile.
Ghani stated that he left the country to avoid bloodshed in Kabul amid the Taliban advances. “I am in consultation for my return to Afghanistan so that I can continue efforts for justice, true Islamic and national values.”
He also discarded allegations of escaping with huge sums of cash as a “character assassination” attempt.
A day earlier, the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan demanded Interpol to detain former President Ashraf Ghani, who fled his country “by embezzling $169 million from the state treasury.”
Muhammed Zahir Agbar, Afghanistan’s envoy to Dushanbe, in a news conference in Dushanbe, described the flee of Ghani as a “betrayal of the state and the nation.” Agbar said he recognizes Amrullah Saleh, the vice president in Ghani’s government, as the legitimate head of the Afghan state.
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