Ashraf Ghani
'I vow to get back..came to UAE in sandals, didn't steal public money': Afghan Prez Ashraf Ghani
Dubai/IBNS: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in his first video message on Facebook, after fleeing the Taliban three days ago, defended his decision, and said that he came to UAE to prevent bloodshed in his homeland.
"I had to move out of Afghanistan to prevent Kabul from bloodshed and destruction," he said in the video message, adding that he is in consultation to return to Afghanistan and assured the people that he would continue to fight to ensure justice, Afghan sovereignty and restore real Islamic values and national achievements, according to a Bloomberg report.
"Had I stayed there, an elected president of Afghanistan would have been hanged again right before the Afghans' own eyes," Ghani said in the Facebook video.
Former president Mohammad Najibullah was hanged from a traffic light by Taliban fighters in 1996.
"They were going from room-to-room to find me," Ghani said.
"Their decision was this: Whatever happened 25 years ago was going to be repeated. The president of Afghanistan once again was going to be hanged in front of the people's eyes and such a shameful history would have once again been repeated."
He made it clear that he had no intention of remaining in exile in Dubai.
He also indirectly rebuffed an allegation against him by Afghanistan's ambassador to Tajikistan that he left the country $169 million from state funds.
He claimed that he left Afghanistan in only one set of traditional clothes, a vest, and sandals.
"Do not believe whoever tells you that your president sold you out and fled for his own advantage and to save his own life," Ghani said, adding, "These accusations are baseless... and I strongly reject them," the report added.
“I was moved out of Afghanistan in such a way that I didn’t even have the chance to take off my sandals and wear my shoes instead," he said.
Meanwhile, the United States reiterated Wednesday that it did not see Ashraf Ghani as a player in Afghanistan, after the ousted president vowed to return, reported AFP.
"He is no longer a figure in Afghanistan," Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters as she declined to comment on the United Arab Emirates' decision to grant him asylum, added the AFP report.
The US reaction to Ghani's statement came even as President Joe Biden stated clearly that it was for the Afghans and their civilan government to defend their territories.
"Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation building. It was never supposed to be creating a unified, centralized democracy," Biden had said in an address to the nation amid criticism over Taliban takeover.
"Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on American homeland," he had said.
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