The Office of the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction is investigating the allegations that former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani took millions of dollars when he fled the country.
John Sopko, the inspector general, told a House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday that the Oversight and Reform Committee has tasked his office with looking into the Ghani accusations.
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“We haven’t proven that yet. We’re looking into that. Actually, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked us to look into that,” Sopko stated.
Ghani fled from Afghanistan in mid-August as the Taliban’s military offensive captured the country and overthrew his rule. Afghan Ambassador to Tajikistan Mohammad Zahir Aghbar claimed that Ghani “stole $169 million from the state coffers,” days after he left, and the ambassador called the president’s flight “a betrayal of the state and the nation,” according to the Associated Press.
Ghani has denied the allegations that he brought millions of dollars with him on his way out.
“Now is not the time for a long assessment of the events leading up to my departure — I will address them in detail in the near future,” Ghani wrote in a statement released via Twitter weeks after his departure. “But I must now address baseless allegations that as I left Kabul I took with millions of dollars belonging to the Afghan people. These charges are completely and categorically false.”
“My wife and I have been scrupulous in our personal finances. I have publicly declared all of my assets,” he added. “My wife’s family inheritance has also been disclosed and remains listed in her home country of Lebanon. I welcome an official audit or financial investigation under UN auspices or any other appropriate independent body to prove the veracity of my statements here.”
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Sopko, during his testimony, also called on lawmakers to hold leaders “accountable” for the War in Afghanistan, which his office said cost the Department of Defense $837 billion dollars on warfighting with an additional $145 billion in costs trying to rebuild the country, its security forces, and economy.
