Ashraf Ghani resigns as Afghan president, leaves country: reports

KABUL: In a major development, Ashraf Ghani has reportedly tendered his resignation as the Afghan president and left the country to Tajikistan, ARY News quoted foreign media reports on Sunday.

India media reports said that Ashraf Ghani has resigned as the Afghan president. Moreover, some British media reports also claimed that Ashraf Ghani has departed to Tajikistan after resigning as the Afghan president.

“President Ghani has left the country,” Tolo News reported while quoting sources privy to the development. Ashraf has left the country along with his close aides, it added.

 

A senior Afghan Interior Ministry official said on Sunday Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has left the capital Kabul for Tajikistan, Reuters reported.

Asked for comment, the president’s office said it “cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani’s movement for security reasons”.

A representative of the Taliban, which entered the capital Kabul earlier on Sunday, said the group was checking on Ghani’s whereabouts.

Earlier in the day, Taliban have begun entering the Afghan capital Kabul from all sides, the Afghan interior ministry said on Sunday, as the US and European Union staff sought safety.

After its lightning advance on the capital, the Taliban group ordered its fighters to refrain from violence, allow safe passage to anyone seeking to leave and request women to head to protected areas, said a Taliban leader in Doha.

READ: TALIBAN HAVE STARTED ENTERING KABUL FROM ALL SIDES – AFGHAN INTERIOR MINISTRY

The development was followed by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s announcement on Saturday in a televised speech, saying, “In the current situation, the remobilisation of our security and defence forces is our top priority, and serious steps are being taken in this regard.”

“As a historic mission, I will not let the imposed war on people cause more deaths,” he said, appearing sombre and sitting before an Afghan flag.

READ: AFGHAN PRESIDENT GHANI SAYS ‘REMOBILISATION OF ARMED FORCES TOP PRIORITY’

“Therefore, I have started extensive consultations inside the government with the elders, political leaders, representatives of people, and international partners on achieving a reasonable and certain political solution in which the peace and stability of the people of Afghanistan are envisaged.”

However, he did not give hint he would resign or take responsibility for the current situation, but said “consultations” were taking place to try and end the war.