Deposed Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Resurfaces In United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates announced today (Aug 18) that it is hosting former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani "on humanitarian grounds", after he fled his country amid a Taliban takeover.

“The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds,” announced the small Middle Eastern nation in a statement.

Earlier reports suggested that the deposed president had taken refuge in Afghanistan.

Ghani fled Afghanistan on Sunday (Aug 15) as Taliban insurgents swept Kabul on August 15 after an abrupt collapse of military.

Ghani in a Facebook post said he was faced with a “hard choice” between the “armed Taliban” who wanted to enter the presidential Palace or “leaving the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting the past 20 years”.

An academic and economist, Mr. Ghani was the 14th President of Afghanistan. He was first elected on September 20, 2014 and was re-elected in the September 28, 2019 presidential election.