US House Oversight Committee Republicans have urged Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland to investigate media reports that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled his country last week with over $169 million in US taxpayer money.
In letters to the AG and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, James Comer and Glenn Grothman stressed that the Biden administration "must do everything in its power to seize any illicitly gained funds that were corruptly embezzled by President Ghani".
Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani attends a security meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan August 14, 2021
© REUTERS / AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
The Republicans noted that although it remains unclear how Ghani obtained such an "enormous" sum of cash, "the amount and nature of his flight from Afghanistan raises the spectre that President Ghani illegally and corruptly embezzled these funds from US assistance intended for the Afghan people's welfare and defence".
The two also insisted that the Afghan president's actions "likely" sped up the Taliban"s* takeover of the country, resulting in the "chaotic situation now faced by American citizens and our allies".
The letters come a week after Ghani, who is currently in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), declared that he intends to return to Afghanistan in the near future in order to provide "justice" for all Afghan nationals.
"I am in consultation with others until I will return so that I can continue my efforts for justice for Afghans", he said, reiterating that he decided to leave his country in order to prevent any further bloodshed and avert a "huge disaster" after the Taliban entered the capital Kabul on 15 August.
'Four Cars Full of Money'
Reports of Ghani having fled Afghanistan with millions in cash emerged as Nikita Ishenko, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy previously told Sputnik that the Afghan president had departed with four cars filled to the brim with money.
"As for the collapse of the regime, it is most eloquently characterised by the way Ghani fled from Afghanistan: four cars were full of money, they tried to put part of the money into a helicopter, but everything did not fit. And some of the money was left on the runway", Ishenko said.
Follow-up reports alleged that the dollar amount Ghani escaped with was upwards of $169 million, a figure which, however, was never confirmed.
Ghani later rejected what he described as the "unsubstantiated and untrue accusations" related to him fleeing with vast sums of money, arguing that he was in such a rush he was even forced to leave behind some confidential documents.
His whereabouts were unknown until last Wednesday, with speculation swirling that he had fled to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, or Oman. On 18 August, the UAE's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Ghani and his family were allowed entry into the Middle Eastern nation on "humanitarian grounds". However, the brief release did not offer specifics on any asylum conditions that may have been raised or Ghani's exact location in the UAE.
*The Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.