The Afghan embassy in Tajikistan has requested the Interpol police to detain Afghanistan’s ousted president Ashraf Ghani and his aides Hamdallah Moheb and Fazl Mahmoud Fazli. The embassy said that they have been stolen public funds, and their detention is requested to retrieve the people’s wealth.
Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, ambassador to Tajikistan, has said today that according to the Constitution, in the absence, escape or death of the president, the first vice president becomes the caretaker and Amrullah Saleh is currently the official acting president, sources said. pic.twitter.com/F3XEngNMj3
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 18, 2021
Reportedly, Ashraf Ghani is in Oman after fleeing from Afghanistan, and he is alleged to have taken a huge amount of money with him. According to Russian news agency RIA, Ghani left the capital Kabul on Sunday with four cars and a helicopter full of cash. The report also claimed that he had to leave behind some cash as all the cash wouldn’t fit in cars, which were loaded in a chopper.
“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,” Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA. Russian sources also claim that Ghani flew to Oman from Kabul. While several reports had said that Ghani had entered Tajikistan but had to divert to Oman after Tajikistan him permission to land, Tajik authorities denied the reports saying he didn’t enter their airspace.
Apart from demanding the arrest of former president Ashraf Ghani, Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan, also declared vice president Amrullah Saleh as the acting president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. He said that as per the Constitution, in the absence, escape or death of the president, the first vice president becomes the caretaker and official acting president.
The ambassador also posted photographs on his Facebook account showing the embassy staff removing the portraits of Ghani, and replacing them with portraits of ‘acting president’ Amrullah Saleh in the embassy premises.
The Afghan ambassador stressed that the world should know that Afghanistan’s official representative to the United Nations still exists and that the country’s flag is being hoisted as a national identity in all countries of the world. The ambassador called on all political representations of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to keep the Afghan national flag flying.
He added that politicians and parties involved in Doha are discussing the establishment of a comprehensive government, and people are waiting for the outcome of these talks.
VP Amrullah Saleh stakes claim to the Presidency in absence of Ashraf Ghani
Earlier yesterday, the Vice President of Afghanistan under the Ashraf Ghani government, Amrullah Saleh, staked claim to the presidency of the country as the legitimate caretaker president. He said that as per the constitution of Afghanistan, in the event of the escape, absence, resignation or death of the president, the Vice President becomes the caretaker president.
Amrullah Saleh said that since he is still in Afghanistan, he is the legitimate caretaker president and therefore, he is reaching out to leaders to secure their support and consensus. Amrullah Saleh is currently stationed in Panjshir province, the only province not captured by the Taliban yet. The province is known as the anti-Taliban hub in the country, and Saleh is mobilising forces to launch a campaign from Panjshir to remove the Taliban from Kabul. A resistance force, led by Ahmad Massoud, son of late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, known as the “Lion” of Panjshir, is gaining in strength in the Panjshir valley, north of Kabul.
Kabul fell to the Taliban on the 15th of August without bloodshed after president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. In a blitzkrieg, the Taliban managed to capture the whole of Afghanistan in a matter of days, except Panjshir. The speed at which the Afghan Government collapsed came as a shock to many, with Afghan soldiers leaving the force to join the ranks of the Taliban.
