The President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, has left the country, an Afghanistan senior official and a senior diplomatic source have told CNN.

Afghan Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah has also said in a video statement that President Ghani has left the country, referring to him as “former president.”

CNN reported earlier that discussions were taking place at the presidential palace in Kabul between government officials and Taliban representatives.  

Ghani is a former economist and academic, who has served as Afghanistan’s president since 2014. He was reelected in September 2019 but due to a protracted process was not sworn in until March 2020.  

He used to be an American citizen but he gave up his passport to run for the Afghan presidency in 2009.

Ghani previously taught anthropology at Berkeley and Johns Hopkins University in the United States between 1983 and 1991, and later began working at the World Bank. He was at the global financial institution in Washington during the September 11 attacks, and used the tragedy as a springboard for his re-engagement in Afghan politics, returning to his home country just months after the event. 

‌