Islamabad, Pakistan: James Comer Ranking Member Committee on Oversight and Reform and Glenn Grothman Ranking Member of Subcommittee on National Security have written a letter to Antony J. Blinken Secretary U.S. Department of State asking him to investigate former President Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani for allegedly taking bags of cash totaling $169 million dollars away with him while fleeing Kabul on August 15, 2021.
Both members have also demanded to investigate alleged corruption and embezzlement of funds of US taxpayers.
The letter which is available with DND News Agency stated that former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country of Afghanistan on August 15, precipitating the rapid collapse of the Afghan government in Kabul and paving the way for the Taliban’s entry into the capital city and presidential palace. The Taliban are now in control of Afghanistan for the first time in nearly two decades. President Ghani is residing in the United Arab Emirates, which has granted him humanitarian protection. However, reports state that President Ghani may have been self-dealing with U.S. funds intended for the Afghan people, having fled the country with enormous sums of cash totaling well over a hundred million dollars. If true, this was not the dignified exit of a benevolent head of state, but that of a coward and grifter. The United States must do everything in its power to seize any illicitly gained funds that were corruptly embezzled by President Ghani. If he diverted funds from their intended purposes, the U.S. should bring him to justice.
Not only did President Ghani flee the country of Afghanistan prematurely and contribute to the rapid fall of the American-backed democratic government in Kabul, but he brought with him duffle bags full of cash totaling $169 million dollars. U.S. taxpayers have provided $145 billion to Afghanistan reconstruction efforts over the last 20 years in addition to $837 billion directly spent on warfighting.7 This includes $17.28 billion in “on-budget assistance to the government of Afghanistan,” of which President Ghani was head since 2014.8 These amounts pale in comparison to the total cost of the Afghanistan war to the United States, which is estimated to be $2.26 trillion.
