Fitrat resigns as Central Bank Governor, citing threats against his life

WASHINGTON, DC (PAN): Citing a threat to his life, Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, Governor of the Afghan Central Bank, announced his resignation Monday.

Fitrat made the announcement at a hastily convened press conference in a Washington suburb Monday after fleeig Afghanistan.  He said he would remain in Washington for the time being.

State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland however said however that she was not aware of any asylum request at this point in time. “At this moment, we’re not aware of an asylum request. We do know that he is in Washington,” she told reporters at her daily news conference.

“If there were to be a change of leadership at the Afghan central bank, we would continue to encourage the government to take all the necessary steps to reform and strengthen the financial sector,” Nuland said.

“It was information from credible sources that my life was in danger,” Fitrat told the press conference, adding that high political authorities in Afghanistan were trying to block his efforts to expose corruption.

Fitrat said he sent in his resignation from the US. “The reason I was not able to resign in Kabul is because my life was completely in danger,” he said, adding that he flew to the US from Afghanistan about a week ago.

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