Afghan President Fled With Cars And Chopper Full of Cash : Russia

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees leaving behind the war-ravaged country. Russian embassy claims that Ghani left with four cars and a helicopter full of cash. Also, he had reportedly left some money behind as it would not all fit in. Currently, no one has a piece of information on Ghani.

He left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul. Ghani said he wanted to avoid bloodshed. Russia has said it will retain a diplomatic presence in Kabul, hoping to develop ties with the Taliban.

“As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul said.

“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.

President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said earlier 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.

Aghan Taliban announced from Mosques across the country – “We forgive all who have worked with the Afghan government in Kabul. You will never be harmed. We will protect you and your interests”. To recall, the Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in 2001, but the group has been on the offensive in recent months and is now on the brink of seizing power again.

In the first days of July 2021, the Taliban captured a dozen districts of the northern province of Badakhshan, next to Tajikistan. Hundreds of Afghan troops fled across the border, and hundreds more surrendered. But the 30,000 regular joes in Faizabad, Badakhshan’s capital, have nowhere to run andTaliban checkpoints control all roads out.