Uzbekistan denies rumors that Ashraf Ghani is in Tashkent

“Recently, there have been reports on social media that some Afghan figures and leaders of ethnic groups are on the territory of Uzbekistan. In particular, Ashraf Ghani, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ata Muhammad Nur and others are mentioned. However, such reports have no grounds,” the report says.

After the Taliban besieged Kabul on August 15, President Ashraf Ghani, who ruled the country since 2014, left Afghanistan by plane, but his whereabouts are still unknown. According to media reports, he was on his way to one of the Central Asian countries.

The New York Times quoted one of the members of the Afghan delegation to the Doha talks as saying that Ghani had flown to Uzbekistan with his wife and two advisers. The president's bodyguard later confirmed to Al Jazeera that Ghani had flown to Tashkent.

However, both Uzbekistan and two other Central Asian states, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, have denied reports that Ghani had visited their country.

There are rumors in the media that he may be in the Sultanate of Oman.

Also on the night of August 15, Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was defending the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and Ata Muhammad Noor, a Tajik leader in the area, were reported to have retreated to Uzbekistan by helicopter.