UAE accepts Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, family after escape from Kabul

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was hosting Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and his family on “humanitarian grounds” following their escape from Kabul.

In a press statement, the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation said that it “can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds.”

Ashraf Ghani escaped the Afghan capital for a central Asian country on Sunday hours before the Taliban fighters laid siege on Kabul’s presidential palace.

Ghani was reported to have left for a central Asian country. Media reports claimed he had left “with four cars and a helicopter full of cash” and was spotted “everywhere from Tajikistan to Oman to Abu Dhabi.”

After leaving, Ghani posted on Facebook that he exited the country to avoid bloodshed. However, his escaped irked the people of Afghanistan, including his cabinet colleagues, many of whom called it a “treason”.

A Fulbright Scholar with a doctorate from Columbia University, the 72-year-old economist assumed the presidency of Afghanistan in September 2014.