The United Arab Emirates Is Sheltering Afghanistan's Ousted President, Ashraf Ghani

By Rachel Treisman

Published August 18, 2021 at 9:45 AM CDT

Men stand next to the a torn poster of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Kabul airport on Monday. Ghani fled Afghanistan over the weekend as Taliban forces closed in on Kabul.

Updated August 18, 2021 at 12:12 PM ET

Ousted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is now in the United Arab Emirates, the country confirmed in a brief statement on Wednesday.

"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," it wrote.

Ghani left Afghanistan over the weekend as Taliban forces advanced on the capital of Kabul, prompting much speculation about his whereabouts. In his first public comments on Sunday, he said he had left the country to avoid further bloodshed.

Journalist George Packer profiled Ghani for The New Yorker in 2016 and spoke to NPR about his governing style over the weekend. Listen to that here.

This story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.