ISLAMABAD: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday denied reports he took large sums of money as he fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took over.
Ghani was speaking in a video streamed on Facebook, his first public comments since it was confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE said on Wednesday it is hosting Ghani and his family on humanitarian grounds.
Ghani’s whereabouts had been unknown after he left Kabul on Sunday. Russian embassy officials told the media on Monday the Afghan president had fled with cars and a helicopter full of cash.
“Accusations I took money with me are complexly baseless, they are lies,” Ghani said in the video stream, as quoted by Reuters.
Bitterly criticized, also by his former cabinet members, for leaving the country, Ghani said he would continue his efforts for Afghanistan and had left to avoid bloodshed.
“I am in consultation with others until I will return so that I can continue my efforts for justice for Afghans,” he said. “If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul.”
The collapse of the Afghan government capped a lightning advance by the Taliban who have seized most of Afghan cities in just 10 days, with relatively little bloodshed.
The takeover came as US President Joe Biden moved to complete the withdrawal of US troops from the war-battered country.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by a US-led invasion for protecting Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America.
The two decades of war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
Ashraf Ghani in UAE, says did not leave Afghanistan with money
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Ashraf Ghani in UAE, says did not leave Afghanistan with money
- Ghani’s whereabouts were unknown until Wednesday when the UAE said it is hosting him
- Russian embassy officials have told media the Afghan president fled with a helicopter full of cash
Baghdad traders protest new customs tariffs
- The demonstrators gathered outside the General Customs Directorate on Sunday, chanting slogans against corruption and rejecting the new fees
BAGHDAD: Hundreds of traders and owners of customs clearance companies protested in central Baghdad on Sunday, demanding that Iraq’s government reverse recently imposed customs tariffs they say have sharply increased their costs and disrupted trade.
The new tariffs that took effect on Jan. 1 were imposed to reduce the country’s debt and reliance on oil revenues, as oil prices have fallen.
Iraq faces a debt of more than 90 trillion Iraqi dinars ($69 billion) — and a state budget that remains reliant on oil for about 90 percent of revenues, despite attempts to diversify.
But traders say the new tariffs — in some cases as high as 30 percent — have placed an unfair burden on them. Opponents have filed a lawsuit aiming to reduce the decision, which Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court is set to rule on Wednesday.
The demonstrators gathered outside the General Customs Directorate on Sunday, chanting slogans against corruption and rejecting the new fees.
“We used to pay about 3 million dinars per container, but now in some cases they ask for up to 14 million,” said Haider Al-Safi, a transport and customs clearance company owner.
“Even infant milk fees rose from about 495,000 dinars to nearly 3 million.”
He said that the new tariffs have caused a backlog of goods at the Umm Qasr port in southern Iraq and added that electric vehicles, previously exempt from customs duties, are now subject to a 15 percent fee.
“The main victim is the citizen with limited income, and government employee whose salary barely covers his daily living, those who have to pay rent, and have children with school expenses — they all will be affected by the market,” said Mohammed Samir, a wholesale trader from Baghdad.
Protesters also accused influential groups of facilitating the release of goods in exchange for lower unofficial payments, calling it widespread corruption.
Many traders, they said, are now considering routing their imports through the Kurdistan region, where fees are lower.
The protests coincided with a nationwide strike by shop owners, who closed markets and stores in several parts of Baghdad to oppose the tariff increase.
In major commercial districts, shops remained shut and hung up banners reading “Customs fees are killing citizens.”
