Abu Dhabi: Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said that he supports talks between the Taliban and top former officials, and denied allegations that he transferred large sums of money out of the country.
Ghani — making his first appearance since leaving Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban encircled the capital, a departure that ultimately resulted in their full takeover — reiterated that he had left in order to spare the country more bloodshed.
He also said he was making efforts to “safeguard the rule of Afghans over our country”, without offering details.
“For now, I am in the Emirates so that bloodshed and chaos is stopped,” Ghani said from the UAE, which confirmed Wednesday he was being hosted there on “humanitarian grounds”.
“I want the success of this process,” he said.
“Do not believe whoever tells you that your president sold you out and fled for his own advantage and to save his own life,” he said. “These accusations are baseless… and I strongly reject them.”
“I was expelled from Afghanistan in such a way that I didn’t even get the chance to take my slippers off my feet and pull on my boots,” he added, noting that he had arrived in the Emirates “empty-handed”.
“Had I stayed there, an elected president of Afghanistan would have been hanged again right before the Afghans’ own eyes,” he said.
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