It is pretty much a toss-up which is the most embarrassing, leaving billions of dollars of weapons for the Taliban, or former President Ghani, fleeing like a rat jumping ship, but first stuffing a helicopter with the contents of four cars full of money! The crook was not able to get all of the loot into the chopper, so part of the thief was left on the tarmac. This was the sort of puppet the US installed. Who says it was his money to take?
“As the Taliban closed in, President Ghani is said to have insisted on a dignified exit from Kabul. When the end came, it was anything but.
The president of Afghanistan fled his palace headed for Tajikistan, and then issued a statement on Facebook: “To avoid bloodshed, I thought it would be better to leave.” Within hours, Taliban militants were filmed posing in his presidential office.
If reports from the Russian government are to be believed, and they are no friends of Ghani, he was followed out of his presidential palace by a motorcade and a helicopter loaded with cash.
“As for the collapse of the [outgoing] regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” a Russian embassy spokesman told the RIA news agency yesterday.
“Four cars were full of money. They tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter but not all of it would fit, and some was left on the tarmac.”
Condemnation and mockery of Ghani, 72, has been swift from Afghan leaders left behind to negotiate a handover of power to the Taliban and the civilians who stormed Kabul airport on Monday in desperate hope of a flight.
Even those close to Ghani who fled Afghanistan themselves took a swipe at the president. Ajmal Ahmady, head of the central bank, who made it on to a military flight from Kabul, said he was “disgusted” at the president for abandoning the country.
“It did not have to end this way. I am disgusted by the lack of any planning by Afghan leadership. Saw at airport them leave without informing others,” Ahmady commented on Twitter.
Once president’s departure was announced, I knew within minutes chaos would follow. I cannot forgive him for creating that without a transition plan.”
Elected as president in 2014 and 2019 despite widespread allegations of fraud, the US-educated Ghani had vowed to stamp out corruption and stabilise the shattered economy.
After overseeing the end of NATO combat operations within months of his election in 2014, however, he struggled to deliver on those promises as a resurgent Taliban tipped the country back into violence.
In his final months Ghani had railed against the pressure from Washington to make concessions to the Taliban as the peace process dragged on, while the insurgents refused to call a ceasefire and stepped up attacks as US forces hastened towards the exit.
In the last days of his government, Ghani found time to mock King Amanullah Khan, the Afghan monarch who abdicated and fled to British India in the face of an Islamic uprising in 1929. “I am not one who runs,” he insisted.
Khan never returned and ended his days in a villa in Rome, surrounded by salvaged possessions. Ghani’s whereabouts remain unknown, with claims he diverted to Oman after Tajikistan denied him permission to land.
Whatever he has salvaged for himself will perhaps be used by his critics to define his time in power.”