Afghanistan’s First Vice President Amrullah Saleh on Tuesday announced that he is in the country and is the “legitimate caretaker President”.
“Clarity: As per d constitution of Afg, in absence, escape, resignation or death of the President the FVP becomes the caretaker President. I am currently inside my country & am the legitimate caretaker President. Am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support & consensus,” Saleh said in a tweet.
“In my soil. With d people. For a cause & purpose. With solid belief in righteousness. Opposing Pak backed oppression & brutal dictatorship is our legitimacy,” Saleh had tweeted earlier.
“It is futile to argue with @POTUS on Afg now. Let him digest it. We d Afgs must prove tht Afgh isn’t Vietnam & the Talibs aren’t even remotely like Vietcong. Unlike US/NATO we hvn’t lost spirit & see enormous opportunities ahead. Useless caveats are finished. JOIN THE RESISTANCE,” he said in another tweet.
His statement comes in the wake of reports that Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash. Earlier, there were reports that Saleh had also fled with Ghani.
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.”
Ischenko confirmed his comments to a global news wire, citing “witnesses” as the source of his information, Al Jazeera reported.
Afghanistan Defence Minister Bismillah Mohammadi had said in a tweet, in an apparent reference to Ghani and his associates, “ They tied our hands behind our backs and sold the homeland, damn the rich man and his gang.”
…With IANS inputs