The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan has denied report that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flew through Tajikistan to a third country as unfounded.
“The plane with Mr. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani onboard did not enter airspace of Tajikistan and did not land in the territory of the country,” says a statement released by the Tajik MFA today morning.
The statement further noted that the Tajik side had not received a corresponding request from the Afghan side.
Meanwhile, residents of the Tajik southern city of Bokhtar, the capital of Khatlon province, told Asia-Plus that several planes landed at the Bokhtar airport yesterday night.
According to rumors, several planes also landed at the airport in Kulob. But no one knows what these planes were are and who flew on them.
On other days, there was no such flow of aircraft. But we do not know what these planes were and where they did come from.
Meanwhile the head of the Bokhtar airport Farhod Abdurashidzoda denied these rumors as baseless in a short conversation with Asia-Plus by phone
Recall, media reports said yesterday that Afghan sources had spoken to several media outlets that Mr. Ashraf Ghani and his immediate team had left Afghanistan for Tajikistan s
Thus, an Afghan government official Sajad Nooristani told Asia-Plus yesterday afternoon that Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani flew from Kabul to Tajikistan.
According to him, Mr. Ghani was accompanied by his national security adviser Hamdullah Mohib and the head of the president’s administrative office Mahmoud Fazli.
Nooristani noted that after Tajikistan, Ghani would fly to an unidentified third country.
TOLO TV, an Afghan TV network, first reported that Mr. Ghani, 72, had gone into exile.
Reuters later confirmed that he had fled the country and that the Taliban was checking in on his whereabouts, citing a senior Afghan interior ministry official and a Taliban representative.
Asked for comment, the president's office said it "cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani's movement for security reasons."
According to Radio Liberty, after short overstay in Dushanbe, Mr. Ghani flew to Oman.
There were also reports that Ashraf Ghani had fled to Tashkent.
