On Wednesday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds.

"The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds," read a brief statement on the ministry's website.

Earlier, Gulf Today quoted the Russian embassy in Kabul as saying that Ghani fled the country with four cars and a helicopter loaded with money and had to leave some money because there was no room for it.

Ghani, whose whereabouts are not known, said he left Afghanistan on Sunday when the Taliban invaded Kabul without resistance.

Ghani told media he wanted to avoid bloodshed. Russia said it would maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul and hope to establish contacts with the Taliban.

Making the announcement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that the UAE welcomed Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds.

Amid growing concerns that Afghanistan may become the epicentre of Islamic terrorism, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York to discuss the situation in the war-torn country which is now under the control of the Taliban.

The Taliban addressed its first news conference and assured that it would respect women's rights under Islamic law and will not pose a threat to any country. The insurgent group also assured that it would not attack the Afghan nationals who assisted foreign troops and country’s security forces during the 20-year-old war.

Also, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed that the government has decided to double the humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan amid the Taliban's takeover of the country.

"The UK will double the amount of its humanitarian and development assistance to Afghanistan, bringing it to a total of 286 million pounds," (USD 393.3 million) Johnson said while addressing the house of parliament, Sputnik reported.

Johnson also informed that the UK will also deploy additional 800 troops to support the Afghan evacuation and assured the parliament that the "government will continue this operation for as long as conditions at the airport allow."

NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg took to Twitter wherein he said, "I have convened an extraordinary virtual meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers this Friday 20 August to continue our close coordination & discuss our common approach on Afghanistan."

According to Forbes, the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan made the demand on charges of Ghani "stealing from the country’s treasury".

It has also demanded the arrest of former Afghan National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib and Ghani’s Chief Advisor Fazel Mahmood, TOLO News said, quoting sources.

As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan," Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA.

"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," he was quoted as saying.

Ischenko, the Russian embassy spokesman, confirmed his comments to Reuters. He cited "witnesses" as the source of his information. Reuters could not independently confirm the veracity of his account immediately. 

President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said earlier it was unclear how much money the fleeing government would leave behind.

"I hope the government that has fled did not take all the money from the state budget. It will be the bedrock of the budget if something is left," Kabulov told Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Image courtesy: AFP