Ex-Afghan leader tweets defence for fleeing
Kabul(AP): Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has taken to Twitter to say his flight from Kabul on August 15 was done to save Afghanistan's capital from bloodshed. He says his security personnel advised the secret departure, which opened the gates of the city to a Taliban takeover.
Ghani also denies widespread allegations of corruption and claims he left the country with millions of dollars. He says there should be an independent investigation.
Ghani's sudden departure has been widely criticized both in Afghanistan and abroad. Washington blamed Ghani's flight and the government's collapse for a Taliban takeover ahead of a negotiated deal.
Prominent Afghan political figures who stayed behind say they had expected to meet with Taliban political leaders the following day to continue negotiations.
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Karnataka by-polls: Cong ahead in Bagalkot, BJP leads in Davanagere South
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Bengaluru (PTI): Trends show Congress and BJP have maintained leads respectively in Karnataka's Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly seats, where counting of votes is underway on Monday, for the bypolls held for two seats on April 9.
The polls were necessitated by the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti (Bagalkot) and Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Davanagere South).
According to the Election Commission, Congress party's Umesh Meti was ahead of BJP's Veerabhadrayya Charantimath by a margin of 9,969 votes in Bagalkot.
In Davanagere South, BJP's Srinivas T Dasakariyappa was leading over Congress party's Samarth Mallikarjun by a margin of 8,539 votes.
Nine and 25 candidates were in the fray, respectively in the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly segments.
