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Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani is currently in the United Arab Emirates “on humanitarian grounds” after he fled the country when the Taliban took over, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on Wednesday.

His family is also in the UAE, the ministry added.

“The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds,” Emirates News Agency (WAM) announced without providing additional details.

Ghani had left Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban entered the capital city of Kabul.

A senior interior ministry official had said that the president was heading to Tajikistan, according to a Reuters report. Ghani’s office did not verify the account at the time “for security reasons.”

The Taliban took control of the country on Sunday while the US was finalizing its withdrawal of troops, diplomats, and Afghans who worked with the coalition over the last 20 years.

On Wednesday, the extremist group killed two protesters who were carrying the flag of Afghanistan during demonstrations in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, according to several local media reports.

The Taliban opened fire on the crowd who had gathered in the city to protest the Taliban rule over the country, the reports said, adding that dozens were injured.

Chaos broke out in recent days as hundreds of Afghan civilians tried to flee on flights evacuating diplomats and individuals who had worked with foreign government during the past two decades. Flights from Kabul airport – the only exit point out of Afghanistan – were suspended for most of Monday after at least seven people were reportedly killed when as hundreds crowded the tarmacs, clenching onto moving flights in an attempt to flee the country on the already-full flights.

*Al Arabiya