Tag: Ashraf Ghani

  • Taliban dissolve US-backed Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan

    Taliban dissolve US-backed Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan

    Taliban authorities dissolved the United States (US)-backed Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan and other five key departments on Monday as the country faces an economic crisis.

    The Afghan government’s spokesman Inamullah Samangani told Reuters, “These departments were not deemed necessary and were not included in the budget, they have been dissolved.”

    However, he added that these departments could be reactivated in the future “if needed”.

    The announcement was made in the country’s first annual budget since the Taliban takeover. The budget stated that Afghanistan faces a budget deficit of 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million) this financial year.

    Samangani said the budget was “based on objective facts” and intended only for departments that had been active and productive.

    The High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), the National Security Council, and the commission for overseeing the implementation of the Afghan Constitution have also been dissolved. It is pertinent to mention that HCNR was last headed by former Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah who was working to negotiate peace between the US-backed government of former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the then-insurgent Taliban.

    Last week, the Taliban ordered women to cover themselves from head to toe in public, expanding a series of oppressive restrictions on women.

  • National Geographic’s green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ evacuated to Italy

    National Geographic magazine’s famed green-eyed girl, Sharbat Gula, has been evacuated to Italy, the country’s Prime Minister (PM) Mario Draghi’s office announced on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

    The office said it had responded to pleas from non-profit organisations working in the war-torn country to help her leave and “travel to Italy as part of the wider evacuation programme in place for Afghan citizens and the government’s plan for their reception and integration”.

    Gula’s famous picture was taken by a United States (US) photographer Steve McCurry in a Pakistan camp in 1984, which was the front cover of the National Geographic magazine. She said she first arrived in Pakistan as an orphan, some four or five years after the Soviet invasion in 1979.

    Pakistan arrested Gula for forging a national identity card and she was deported back to Afghanistan in 2016. At that time, former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani welcomed her.

    In September, Rome said it had evacuated almost 5,000 Afghans after the Taliban seized power in August.

  • ‘Ghani promised to fight till death but fled’: Antony Blinken

    United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani promised to fight till death but when the Taliban came, he fled, reports Dawn.

    In a show, Blinken was asked if he had personally tried to persuade Ghani to stay in Kabul. To which he replied that he was on the phone with the former President on the night of August 14 (a day before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul). Blinken said that he was pressing him to accept a plan for transferring power to a new government.

    Secretary Blinken said that Ghani told him that, “he was prepared to do that, but if the Taliban wouldn’t go along, he was ready to fight till death. And the very next day, he fled Afghanistan.”

    This government would have been “led by the Taliban but would have included all aspects of the Afghan society,” he added while answering the question.

    Blinken claimed that he had engaged with the former President Ghani over many weeks and months.

  • ‘I saw Afghan president escape with millions’: Ghani’s security chief has video proof of his alleged theft

    ‘I saw Afghan president escape with millions’: Ghani’s security chief has video proof of his alleged theft

    A senior member of former President Ashraf Ghani’s security staff said on Sunday that he has video proof of Ghani’s alleged theft, reports Dawn.

    Brigadier General Piraz Ata Sharifi, who headed Ghani’s bodyguard, said in an interview that he not only saw huge bags of cash being transferred but also acquired a video clip from a CCTV camera.

    “One of my jobs was to disarm the soldiers on guard at the ministry before the president arrived, for his security,” Sharifi told the Daily Mail Online

    “We were waiting for the president there. But then I got a call to say that instead of coming to the defence ministry, the president went to the airport. The defence minister had also fled. So had my boss. So had all of Ghani’s close family and entourage,” he said.

    “I have a [CCTV] recording [from the palace], which shows that an individual at the Afghan Bank brought a lot of money to Ghani before he left,” Sharifi claimed.

    “Hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars. There were many big bags and they were heavy. It was not rice,” he said, patting a bag of rice beside him, ruefully.

    “This money was supposed to be for the currency exchange market,” he said. “Each Thursday, the dollars were brought for that purpose. Instead, it was taken by the president. Ghani knew in the end what would happen. So he took all the money and escaped.”

    “I never thought he would do that. But I have the evidence which I will share when I am in a safe place.”

    Ghani, however, had refuted the allegations that he had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, he said, “These charges are completely and categorically false.”

    “Corruption is a plague that has crippled our country for decades, and fighting corruption has been a central focus of my efforts as president,” Ghani said.

    Ghani said he left Afghanistan unceremoniously to avoid bloodshed. His abrupt departure allowed the Taliban to take Kabul two weeks before the US troop pullout.

  • ‘Anti-Pakistan bill moved in US Senate to build pressure on President Biden’: Shah Mahmood

    Reacting to the proposed bill moved in the United States (US) Senate, evaluating Pakistan’s alleged role in Afghanistan before and after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Republicans submitted the bill to build pressure on US President Joe Biden.

    Qureshi, while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’, said, “The anti-Biden administration in Congress views it [Afghanistan debacle] as a major opportunity to mount pressure on Biden. Pakistan cooperated with the US at every step.”

    “Besides India, some forces want to target and destabilise Pakistan and put the whole burden of the Afghan situation on Pakistan.”

    He said that in view of new realities, it is time to build new strategies. He also said that in the near future, a high-profile US personality will visit Pakistan.

    American senators have proposed a bill in the US Senate, demanding a deeper investigation into the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan and sanctions on the group as well as those who assisted them in driving out the Ashraf Ghani-led regime.

  • Pakistan gifted silk carpet worth $3,000 to Donald Trump in 2019

    Pakistan gifted silk carpet worth $3,000 to Donald Trump in 2019

    The United States (US) disclosed a list of gifts received by officials from foreign states and dignitaries, which included names of not only the president but also the vice president, senior advisors, secretaries, senators, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents, army officials, judges, and other workers of government departments, reported The News.

    A gift given to former President Donald Trump by Pakistan along with two gifts from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 are also shown in the information released by the US.

    Donald Trump received the most gifts during 2019 out of all other officials of the US government. The former US president declared a total of 23 gifts that he received in 2019 worth $52,626. Trump, according to the list of recorded gifts, did not retain a single gift for himself and rather disposed of all of them to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

    Pakistan gifted Donald Trump a silk carpet that had a value of $3,000 in 2019. This was the only gift that America received from Pakistan in 2019. Whereas, two gifts from India were sent, which were delivered by Indian Prime Minister Modi himself on his visit to the US. One was a sculpture with a value of $970 given to Donald Trump and the other was a candle holder, which cost $650 and was given to Jared Kushner, senior advisor.

    Ashraf Ghani gifted a handmade carpet to Trump and Lapis Bowl and Lapis Tray to Michael R Pompeo, which was valued at almost $10,000. Two carpets were gifted by the president of Uzbekistan, which cost over $20,000. The president of Egypt gave Donald Trump a frame of his image, which cost over $5,000. Likewise, the Ameer of Qatar gave Trump a statue made of emerald, onyx, gold and diamond worth thousands of dollars. 

  • ‘I apologise to the Afghan people’: Ashraf Ghani

    ‘I apologise to the Afghan people’: Ashraf Ghani

    Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in a statement posted on Twitter, said: “It is with deep and profound regret that my own chapter ended in similar tragedy to my predecessors — without ensuring stability and prosperity. I apologise to the Afghan people that I could not make it end differently.”

    “Leaving Kabul was the most difficult decision of my life, but I believed it was the only way to keep the guns silent and save Kabul and her six million citizens,” said Ghani.

    “If I stayed, there was a risk of the same horrific street-to-street fighting the city had suffered during the Civil War of the 1990s.”

    Refuting the allegations that Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, he said, “These charges are completely and categorically false.”

    “Corruption is a plague that has crippled our country for decades, and fighting corruption has been a central focus of my efforts as president,” he said, adding that he and his Lebanese-born wife were “scrupulous in our personal finances”.

    “I have publically declared all my assets. My wife’s family inheritance has also been disclosed and remains listed in her home country of Lebanon,” said Ghani.

    “I welcome an official audit or financial investigation under United Nations (UN) auspices or any other appropriate independent body to prove the veracity of my statement,” added Ghani.

    He appreciated the sacrifices the Afghans had made over the past 40 years of war in their country.

  • US refuses to acknowledge claim that Pakistan involved in Taliban attack on Kabul

     The United States (US) State Department distances itself from former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s claim that 10-15,000 Pakistanis had joined the Taliban attack on Kabul, reported Dawn.

    US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, when asked to comment on Ghani’s claim, said, “I’m just not in a position to comment on that, to confirm those reports.”

    “If we have anything more, we’ll provide it,” said Price when asked if he would comment on another claim that the Taliban forces now in Kabul include foreign troops.

    “We’re enormously grateful to the huge network of countries that have provided critical assistance for our evacuation efforts,” said Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland.

    Praising the countries, she named Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, and the UAE among the countries that supported the evacuation. She also named America’s key European allies – Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and others – “who have helped transit Americans and others to safety”.

    “Our close coordination with our allies and partners remains critical both on evacuation and relocation, but also as we begin to scope our ongoing relationship with the Afghan people and with the Taliban,” she said.

  • ‘I am currently in talks to return to Afghanistan’: Ashraf Ghani

    ‘I am currently in talks to return to Afghanistan’: Ashraf Ghani

    Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani has taken refuge in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    Ghani left Afghanistan as the Taliban advanced on the capital city, Kabul, over the weekend.

    The UAE’s foreign ministry said the country has welcomed Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds.

    In a video address later on Wednesday, Ghani denied fleeing and said he had left to prevent what he described as a “huge disaster”, reported the BBC.

    “For now, I am in the Emirates so that bloodshed and chaos is stopped,” he said, “I am currently in talks to return to Afghanistan.”

    Ghani also said rumours that he had travelled to the UAE with a large amount of money were “completely baseless” and “lies”.

    The Russian embassy in Kabul alleged on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as not all of it would fit in, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

    Meanwhile, United States (US) President Joe Biden blamed the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan on Afghan political leaders who fled the country and the unwillingness of the US-trained Afghan army to fight the militant group.

    In his speech, Biden said that the US troops could not defend a nation whose leaders “gave up and fled”, as did Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

  • Ashraf Ghani and family in UAE

    Ashraf Ghani and family in UAE

    The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday said that it had welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds.

    It still remains unclear whether Ghani flew directly to the UAE or was at another location since he left Kabul on Sunday.

    Ashraf left a note for his countrymen on social media, stating, “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.”

    “Taliban have won the judgement of swords 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,” wrote Ashraf Ghani.

    Initially, he did not say where he had travelled to, but leading Afghan media group Tolo News suggested he had gone to Tajikistan.

    The Russian embassy in Kabul alleged on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.