GREAT ESCAPE

Russia: Afghan President Escaped With Four Cars and Helicopter Full of Cash

“Some of the money was left lying on the tarmac,” a spokesman for Russia’s embassy in Kabul said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, according to Russian state media. “To avoid bloodshed, I thought it would be better to leave,” Ghani later said on Facebook in his first comments since fleeing Kabul. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Ghani headed to Uzbekistan, but his precise location remains unknown. “As for the collapse of the (outgoing) regime, it is most eloquently characterized by the way Ghani fled Afghanistan,” Russian embassy spokesman Nikita Ishchenko told Russian outlet RIA, according to Reuters.“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.”

Russia has not recognized the Taliban as the nation’s official government but will begin diplomatic relations with them. President Biden is expected to address the nation Monday afternoon about the chaotic U.S. withdrawal.