Interim government must be formed before any future vote in Afghanistan: Hekmatyar
Hekmatyar (left) and Ghani (right)
1TV: Afghan presidential candidate Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said on Sunday that an interim government must be formed before holding any future election in the country. Hekmatyar, who was addressing reporters in Kabul, claimed that as many as one million fraudulent votes were cast in favour of incumbent President Ashraf Ghani. Click here to read more (external link).
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Pentagon Chief Arrives For Surprise Afghanistan Visit
Esper
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 20, 2019
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has arrived in the Afghan capital on his first trip to that country since taking over as Pentagon chief in July, possibly signaling fresh U.S. efforts to end the longest war in U.S. history.
He will reportedly meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and visit some of the 14,000 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan, where the United States has spent 18 years since leading an international coalition to punish Al-Qaeda and oust the fundamentalist Taliban.
The visit comes with peace talks seemingly at a standstill since U.S. President Donald Trump last month suspended negotiations with the Taliban amid reports that a preliminary peace deal might be at hand to help bring more than 5,000 U.S. troops home from that conflict.
AP reported that Esper told reporters traveling with him on October 20 that he thought Washington could reduce troop numbers to around 8,600 without hindering counterterrorism efforts targeting militants of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).
“The aim is to still get a peace agreement at some point, that’s the best way forward,” Esper said, according to AP.
On October 19, Afghans held funerals in eastern Afghanistan for victims of a mosque bombing a day earlier that killed at least 69 people during Friday Prayers, highlighting the uptick in attacks in recent months that Trump blamed for derailing the U.S.-Taliban talks.
Esper was expected to meet with Ghani, who is thought to be in a two-man race with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah as the vote count continues following Afghanistan’s September 28 presidential election.
Afghan election officials on October 19 postponed the scheduled announcement of preliminary results from that voting, with talk that nearly one-quarter of the votes might be tossed out over failures in identification procedures.
The Taliban refuses to talk directly with the Afghan government, calling it a “puppet” of foreign powers.
Taliban negotiators said in early October that they had met in Pakistan with Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, for the first time since Trump called the peace process “dead.” U.S. officials did not confirm the meeting.
In the hours before Esper landed in Afghanistan, the European Union’s special envoy to Kabul, Rolan Kobia, urged a fresh push toward a cease-fire that could help rekindle U.S. diplomatic efforts there.
“It’s the right moment and the right opportunity to maybe go one step beyond a simple reduction in violence and explore ways in which a cease-fire…will take place,” Kobia told reporters in Kabul on October 20, according to AFP. “The idea is really to see how we can move the cease-fire idea forward instead of leaving it for later.”
He added, “There is an opportunity here today.”
Over several days last week, Kobia met with Ghani, Abdullah, and other Afghan officials.
In tweets commenting on his meeting with Ghani, Kobia said he had “discussed post-elections context, peace talks resumption and ceasefire + next steps combining both” with the 70-year-old Afghan president.
Asked by reporters about EU leverage toward a cease-fire, AFP quoted Kobia as saying the Taliban could return to power in “one form or another,” so could be interested in more normalized relations with Europe. “A cease-fire would be a token, a guarantee of goodwill and good preparation for the normalization of these relationships,” he said.
In 2014, Ghani and Abdullah eventually consented to a U.S.-brokered power-sharing deal following a disputed presidential election that threatened to escalate into more bloodshed.
With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
IEC Apologizes to Afghans for Delaying Election Results
Hawa Alam Nuristani
Tolo News: The Chairperson of the Independent Election Commission, Hawa Alam Nuristani, said on Saturday that the Election Commission apologizes to the Afghan people for not managing to announce the preliminary results of the presidential polling on time. The Afghan Election Commission was due to announce the preliminary results today. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – October 19, 2019
Afghans Bury Dead From Mosque Attack That Killed At Least 69
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 19, 2019
Funerals were held in eastern Afghanistan on October 19 for victims of a bombing a day earlier at a mosque that killed at least 69 people during Friday Prayers.
The mosque in the village of Chodari in Nangarhar Province was full of worshippers at the time of the explosion on October 18, Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the provincial council, said on October 19.
“Bodies of 69 people, including children and elders, have been handed to their relatives,” Qaderi said, adding that more bodies could be lying under the rubble.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but both the Taliban and the Islamic State extremist group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially Nangarhar Province.
However, a Taliban spokesman in a statement condemned the attack in Nangarhar and called it a “serious crime.”
In a tweet, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass condemned the “unconscionable” attack against the worshippers.
“All Afghans have the right to live and worship together in safety,” he said on Twitter.
The European Union said the attack aimed to undermine hopes for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
One of the wounded, Gulabistan, 45, said the mosque was full when the explosion occurred.
“The mullah had already started prayers and reciting verses of the holy Koran, when a huge boom happened, then all around me it got dark, the only thing I remember is females’ voices and then I found myself in the hospital,” Gulabistan said in comments to the Reuters news agency.
He said he had been told his son was among the dead while his brother and two nephews had been wounded and were in hospital.
The mosque attack came after the United Nations said the number of civilian deaths in the war-torn country had reached “unprecedented” levels over the summer.
In a report released on October 17, the UN said 1,174 civilians had been killed between July and September, with July being the deadliest month in a decade.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director Omar Waraich said the “killing and maiming of Afghan civilians demands the world’s attention.”
“Flagrant violations of international humanitarian law such as deliberate targeting of civilians are not something anyone should get used to or learn to ignore. There must be a determined effort to protect civilians, ensure respect for international humanitarian law, and hold the perpetrators accountable,” he added.
With reporting by AP
Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
Exploring The Ghani Institute Bombshell’s Impeccable Timing
Qayoumi (left) and Ghani (right)
Michael Hughes: A potential scandal involving a foundation Afghan President Ashraf Ghani established in the United States could affect voter sentiment during the likely presidential run-off. However, many questions remain open to determine whether the allegations amount to true corruption or run-of-the-mill conflict of interests.
On Sunday, October 13, Tolo News reported that The Institute for State Effectiveness, an American research organization that Ghani co-founded in Washington decades ago, has reaped significant profits in recent years including via Afghan government contracts.
What makes things look even worse for Ghani is that his current finance chief, Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi, received a healthy salary from the group while he was acting as a presidential adviser a few years ago.
Qayoumi Referred to Attorney General
Qayoumi
Tolo News: The Afghan Senate’s Complaints Commission on Thursday referred Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi to the Attorney General, following reports that Qayoumi had received a $255,000 salary from a private institute in the US in 2017. Qayoumi is the acting Minister of Finance–and top adviser to President Ashraf Ghani. Earlier this week, TOLOnews obtained documents showing that Qayoumi received the $255,000 salary from a private organization called the “Institute for State Effectiveness” in 2017. The organization was founded by President Ashraf Ghani in 2013, documents indicate. Zalmay Zabuli, the head of the Senate’s Complaints Commission, described Qayoumi’s financial behavior as an act of national treason and said that it is linked to the lack of transparency in the Ministry of Finance. Click here to read more (external link).
Why the United States Is So Bad at Peace Talks
Foreign Policy: Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Afghan peace process, closing off for the time being a rare opening to resolve a long, stagnant, and unpopular war. Whatever one thinks of the specifics of the deal that the U.S. representative at the talks, Zalmay Khalilzad, had nearly finalized with the Taliban, the episode was a perfect demonstration of the conflicted, often self-defeating view of peace agreements that mires U.S. foreign policy. Click here to read more (external link).
1TV Afghanistan Dari News – October 18, 2019