Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has reportedly left the country

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has reportedly left the country with the Taliban surrounding Kabul after a rapid country-wide offensive over the last several days. His apparent departure was reported by Afghanistan's TOLO News earlier Sunday, and CNN later said it had confirmed the news.

It's not clear where Ghani is heading, though Al Jazeera reports Tajikistan is the destination, at least for now.

Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's political rival who recently entered a power-sharing agreement with him, referred to Ghani as Afghanistan's former president in a video statement and said "God will hold him accountable" for leaving. "The nation will also judge," he added.

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The Taliban and the government are currently negotiating a peaceful transfer of power, and there are no reports of any skirmishes on the ground in the Afghan capital.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.