Ashraf Ghani being welcomed to Lancaster House by Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani  has followed Nigeria’s leader, President Muhammadu Buhari to lash back at British Prime Minister David Cameron over his gaffe describing both countries ‘fantastically corrupt’.

Ghani in a radio interview aired this morning pointed to the impact of the heroin trade, Britain’s and the West’s ‘drug habit’ as the engine of corruption in Afghanistan.

Mr Ghani played down Mr Cameron’s remarks in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.

Buhari arrives at Lancaster House, recieved by Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire

He insisted the countries were ‘partners’ and pointed out that he had been elected on a platform of tackling corruption within Afghanistan.

But he added: ‘It is the drug habit of the West. The most significant driver of corruption is the narcotics cartel and that narcotic cartel is driving both terrorism, extremism and corruption.’

Cameron had risked derailing the gathering earlier this week when he was filmed boasting to the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury that he had some ‘fantastically corrupt’ countries attending the world summit on corruption which opened earlier today.

In response, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said that instead of an apology he would be demanding Britain return billions of pounds stolen by crooked officials and laundered in this country.