Afghan Embassy in Tajikistan demands ex-Prez Ghani's arrest for 'stealing public wealth'

Kabul: The Afghanistan embassy in Tajikistan has sought Interpol to arrest former president Ashraf Ghani, Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib and the former Chief Advisor to Ghani, Fazel Mahmood for theft of the treasury, according to reports.

An India Today report citing local reports said the Afghanistan embassy has demanded Ghani to hand over the treasury to an international tribunal to restore the people’s wealth.

According to the Associated Press, Ambassador Mohammad Zahir Aghbar told a news conference that Ghani stole $169 million from the state coffers and called his flight a betrayal of the state and the nation.

The former president left the country on Sunday as the Taliban entered the capital Kabul. Ghani was reported to have taken shelter in neighbouring Tajikistan or Uzbekistan. The United Arab Emirates in a statement in the evening said it has accepted him and his family on account of humanitarian considerations.

Russian official news agency TASS on Monday had reported that the 72-year-old President fled Afghanistan aboard a helicopter packed with money. “As for the reasons for the collapse of the regime, they are characterised by how Ghani fled the country. Four cars were packed with money, and they tried to cram another bag of cash into the helicopter. Not all the cash managed to squeeze in, and some of the money was left lying on the airfield," a mission employee was quoted as saying by the report.

Though TASS did not name the mission employee, quoting Russian diplomatic mission spokesperson Nikita Ishenko, Russian wire service Sputnik reported that Ghani was escorted with cars filled with cash as he was fleeing Kabul.

In his first comments after he left Afghanistan, Ghani in a Facebook post on Sunday said he was faced with a “hard choice" between the “armed Taliban" who wanted to enter the Presidential Palace or “leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years".

“If there were still countless countrymen martyred and they would face the destruction and destruction of Kabul city, the result would have been a big human disaster in this six million city. The Taliban have made it to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out," he said.

“Taliban have won the judgement of sword and guns and now they are responsible for protecting the countrymen’s honour, wealth and self-esteem. Didn’t they win the legitimacy of hearts? Never in history has dry power given legitimacy to anyone and won’t give it to them."