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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he left Kabul to prevent bloodshed as he denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace. Ghani, who confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates, said he was in 'consultation' to return to Afghanistan after he met a barrage of bitter criticism by former ministers for leaving the country suddenly as Taliban forces entered the capital on Sunday. But the United States - Ghani's most important ally - reiterated today that it did not see Ghani as a player in the region, after the ousted president...

"If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul,” Ashraf Ghani had said in a on a Facebook stream after fleeing. Ashraf Ghani, the former President of Afghanistan, accepted over $112 million from Qatar 'to not resist' the Taliban, Italian public broadcasting service (RAI) reported in its TJ 1 newscast. Ghani, an Afghan President who enjoyed US support, left Kabul as Taliban approached the Afghanistan capital on August 15, 2021. The report says Ashraf Ghani's envoy Ajmal Ahmadi, former president of the Central Bank of Afghanistan, received $114 million and $27 million to surrender to the Taliban. The...

One of the most frustrating parts of the entire Afghanistan troop withdrawal saga was the story of how President Ashraf Ghani fled his country like a thief in the night as the Taliban approached, allegedly packing several cars and a helicopter with what was described as “a cartoonish quantity of cash” as he went. That story came to us via the Russian embassy in Afghanistan, so assign whatever credibility to it that you will, but the tale quickly picked up traction. After Ghani disappeared, first to Uzbekistan and then on to the United Arab Emirates, nobody heard from him for...

Amrullah Saleh, 48, is the former vice president of Afghanistan, who escaped Kabul as the Taliban advanced to join Ahmad Massoud and the National Resistance Front in the Panjshir Valley. The remote, 70 mile long valley, bordered by high mountains, is a geographical stronghold and the last province in Afghanistan to hold out against the Taliban. After peace negotiations failed, battle has now been joined with each side claiming territorial gains and heavy casualties in the past 48 hours. In a courageous and moving dispatch from the frontline, Saleh - whose leader, President Ashraf Ghani, fled Kabul for the UAE...

Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) on Tuesday demanded answers from the Biden administration on whether ex-Afghan President Ashraf Ghani stole US aid before fleeing to the United Arab Emirates. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday indicated she's not aware of whether or not it's true that Ghani fled to Dubai with millions of dollars. https://twitter.com/stevennelson10/status/1430669793267494913

"Russia says Afghan president fled with cars and helicopter full of cash - RIAMOSCOW, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Russia's embassy in Kabul said on Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reported. Ghani, whose current whereabouts are unknown, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered Kabul virtually unopposed. He said he wanted to avoid bloodshed. read more Russia has said it will retain a diplomatic presence in...

The Taliban appears to have set the clock back in the country by at least 20 years with the insurgent group set to proclaim the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The people's government, meanwhile, collapsed on Sunday and President Ashraf Ghani is said to have left the country for Tajikistan. With Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar likely to be declared as the new president, here's a look at his political career so far.#BreakingNews Congratulatory message from Mullah Baradar Akhund, Political Deputy and head of the Political office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan after the recent victories...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan’s embattled President Ashraf Ghani fled the country Sunday as the Taliban moved further into Kabul, officials said. His countrymen and foreigners alike raced for the exit, signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan.

On Monday, June 21, Turkish President Recep Erdogan said that his recent meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels opens a "new era" in diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to Erdogan, there are no problems in relations between Turkey and the United States that cannot be solved, and there are much more areas for cooperation. Biden expressed the hope that countries can make real progress. At the same time, the parties did not agree on problematic issues, such as the acquisition by Turkey of Russian S-400 anti-missile systems, violation of...

The Afghan government released 80 of the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners Thursday, paving the way for long-stalled peace negotiations after nearly two decades of bitter and violent conflict in the country. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani got the go-ahead from the consultative assembly Loya Jirga, which sanctioned the release of prisoners in an effort to speed up talks in the war-torn nation. Some of the prisoners have been implicated in devastating bombings in the capital Kabul.

Jury deliberations in the rape and sexual assault trial of movie mogul and Democratic Party donor Harvey Weinstein set to begin Tuesday.... Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who was a vocal critic of President Trump and lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against the President, found guilty of attempted extortion... The Russian and Turkish military leader talking about the situation in Syria's Idlib province.... In Syria today two Syrian soldiers killed when their helicopter was downed with Turkish weaponry..... Another pro-Israel delegation making a trip to Saudi Arabia.... The Acting US Attorney in Washington opting to drop a criminal...

DOHA, Qatar — Nearly 11 days after peace negotiations between the United States and the Taliban began with high hopes, it has become clear that any resolution to the 18-year war could be frustratingly slow. One of the most prominent issues thwarting progress is a disagreement over a fundamental question: What is terrorism, and who is a terrorist?... ...American negotiators have insisted on specifying that Afghanistan not be used by “terrorist” groups, but the Taliban have resisted, saying there was no universal definition of terrorism. The Taliban dragging their feet on one term might seem to be killing time, but...

Tony Podesta's firm failed to file legally required disclosures after emails with his WH adviser brother A high-dollar lobbyist and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign failed to file legally required disclosures for his advocacy on behalf of a foreign government in discussions with Clinton’s future campaign chairman, according to a political law expert. High-powered Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta emailed his brother John, a top White House adviser who would later chair the Clinton campaign, in January 2015. Tony wondered if John would attend a meeting with the Indian ambassador to the United States. “I’m at Camp David Friday,” John...

KABUL — Afghan officials hanged six Taliban prisoners Sunday, a resumption of executions in the war that makes good on President Ashraf Ghani’s recent promise to deal harshly with insurgents now that hopes for peace negotiations have evaporated. The six prisoners were hanged in the morning inside the Pul-i-Charkhi prison — a detention facility on the outskirts of Kabul that is notorious among Afghans as the site of massive executions by the country’s then-communist regime during the 1980s. Among the inmates were two Taliban members who helped assassinate two senior government officials in recent years, officials said. One prisoner facilitated...

If you're looking for gratitude from the Afghans, President Ashraf Ghani is your man. When he appeared before Congress Wednesday, he expressed thanks to American troops, their families, Congress, Barack Obama and "ordinary Americans whose hard-earned taxes have over the years built the partnership" between the United States and Afghanistan. He couldn't have laid it on any thicker if he'd been using a trowel. Americans in uniform, he attested, "have come to know our snowcapped mountains, our verdant valleys, our windswept deserts, our parched fields, our unharnessed, flowing rivers, and our plains of waving wheat." He said, "Veterans will always...

Afghanistan’s two presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah have finally agreed a power-sharing deal, drawing a line under a contested election that has dragged out for almost six months. The agreement, which bestows substantial power on the losing candidate, was finalised on Saturday and made public in a ceremony on Sunday. Parties met late into the night over the past few days to seal the deal before Sunday, when an announcement of the final result of the UN-run election audit is expected. Negotiations, begun in July and finalised earlier this week, were drawn out because Mr Abdullah, the losing...