Afghanistan: Ousted president in ‘consultation’ to return
Exiled Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said he was in “consultation” to return to the country after fleeing to the United Arab Emirates.
Ghani left the country “in order to prevent bloodshed” and to ensure a “huge disaster” was avoided, he said in a Facebook live broadcast, translated by Al Jazeera.
“When it comes to the political leadership of the Taliban, it was a failure on their part and a failure on our part that the negotiations did not lead to anything, the peace process should lead to the end of war.
“I’m in consultation with others until I (can) return so that I can continue my efforts for justice for the Afghans,” Ghani said.
It comes as the Afghan ambassador in Tajikistan has accused the former leader of fleeing with $169m (£123m) from state funds and urged international police to arrest him.
In his Facebook live, Ghani dubbed the claims “completely baseless” and “lies”.
Ghani left Afghanistan on Sunday, as the Taliban approached Kabul, and was taken in by the United Arab Emirates on humanitarian considerations.
Governments have been attempting to evacuate their citizens and Afghans from Kabul as chaos has been reported outside the airport.
Some 5,000 people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours with many more desperate to leave the country and avoid the Taliban’s Sharia law.
Taliban militants deployed around the airport reportedly fired shots into the air and were not allowing Afghans without passports to enter.
The UK government agreed to resettle up to 20,000 Afghan refugees over the next few years but came under criticism as it will only take 5,000 people this year.