As per a report by RIA News, on Monday, the Russian embassy in Kabul said that Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash. The report also said that Ghani had to leave some money behind because it wouldn’t all fit in.
Ghani’s whereabouts are unknown, and in a post on his Facebook page, Ghani said he had faced a difficult decision, with the fate of millions of Kabul residents and the security of the city at stake after 20 years of war in which countless numbers had already been killed.
“To avoid bloodshed, I thought it would be better to leave,” he said in his first comments since flying out of the country.
Meanwhile, Russia has stated that it will retain a diplomatic presence in Kabul and that it hopes to develop ties with the Taliban even as it says that Russia is no rush to recognize them as the country’s rulers and will closely observe their behavior.
The RIA quoted a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, Nikita Ishchenko, who said, “As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan.”
“Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Ischenko, the Russian embassy spokesman, confirmed his comments. He cited “witnesses” as the source of his information.
President Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, had said earlier that it was unclear how much money the fleeing government would leave behind.
“I hope the government that has fled did not take all the money from the state budget. It will be the bedrock of the budget if something is left,” Kabulov told Moscow’s Ekho Moskvy radio station.