The governor of Afghanistan's central bank, Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, says he is resigning because he thinks his life is in danger.
Speaking in the United States, he says he is in danger because of a corruption scandal which brought down the privately owned Kabul Bank.
The Kabul bank allegedly was engaged in years of fraud involving well-connected shareholders, including the brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai.
Mr Fitrat says he has been prevented from holding a proper investigation into the embezzlement of around $500,000.
And he says the situation got worse when he exposed the alleged corruption in parliament.
"My life was in danger and also there were other conspiracies that I thought probably could happen," he said.
"That's why after I received that credible information I tried to leave Afghanistan and announce my resignation here, in Washington."
The US State Department has confirmed Mr Fitrat is in Washington.
"We do know that he is in Washington," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
"If there were to be a change of leadership at the Afghan Central Bank, we would continue to encourage that government to take all the necessary steps to reform and strengthen the financial sector."
Ms Nuland said she had no information about whether Mr Fitrat had asked for asylum.
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