Russia Says Afghan President Escaped With “4 Cars And A Helicopter Full Of Money”

The Russian Embassy in Kabul He noted that the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, fled his country with “four cars and a helicopter full of money”. The statements come from spokesperson for this representation to the press agencies The Associated Press Yes Reuters.

“The collapse of the (Afghan) regime … is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani escaped from Afghanistan: four cars full of money; They tried to put some more of the money in a helicopter, but it didn’t work. And some of the money was thrown on the trail “Russian Embassy spokesman Nikita Ishchenko said.

When the manager was asked about the details of Ghani’s theft, he replied to the AP: “Well we are working here», Without offering more details. The agency said it was unable to verify these allegations. While, in statements to Reuters, the Russian spokesperson quoted “witnesses“as a source of information, but they could not be confirmed by this agency either.

Analyzing the first 24 hours of Taliban control over the Afghan capital, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitri Zhirnov told his country’s radio station Ekho Moskvy: “Currently, the situation in Kabul is better than with Ashraf Ghani.“And underlined that with” the Taliban terrorists it is better than with Ghani “.

For his part, the Kremlin envoy to the captured country, Zamir Kabulov, called the president’s flight “shameful” and that “he deserves to be brought to justice and must be held accountable to the Afghan people”.

The Afghan president’s flight occurred on Sunday, August 15, when the Taliban captured Kabul, the capital of the country, after the fall of the government. According to information from the international press, Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, countries geographically bordering Afghanistan. Its whereabouts are officially unknown. Regarding his flight, the president noted that he did it to avoid the bloodshed.

Moscow’s criticism of Ghani, whose government had Washington backing, comes at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the United States, according to the international agency.

Russia and Afghanistan

Moscow waged a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, and had returned as a mediator, reaching out to warring Afghan factions while competing with Washington for influence in the country.

Russia has held several rounds of talks on Afghanistan, most recently in March, involving the Taliban, although it is considered a terrorist organization by Moscow.