Abdullah: high level talks about crisis ongoing

KABUL (TOLO News): Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday said that his recent talks and meetings with some of Afghanistan’s mainstream political leaders, including former president Hamid Karzai, former mujahideen leader Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf, and the US Special Envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalamy Khalilzad, were focused on the election crisis.

Abdullah, speaking to media after meeting with tribal elders in Kabul, once again rejected the announcement of the presidential election results by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) as ‘illegitimate.”

“The illegitimate announcement of the election led to the crisis, and, so far, no one has accepted the election results,” said Abdullah in a question asked by TOLOnews’ reporter Anisa Shaheed about reports that Abdullah had been asked to accept the results.

However, Abdullah refrained from providing any further details about his talks with the political leaders, but said that the talks and meetings will continue.

Meanwhile, Reuters has reported that the United States has asked Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to defer his second-term inauguration over concerns it could inflame an election feud with his political rival and jeopardize US-led peacemaking efforts.

The presidential palace so far has not made a comment about the report by Reuters.

Both Abdullah and Ghani previously said that they will be sworn in as president on Thursday.

“Mr. Khalilzad told us that the US was not aware of the issue, but I don’t think that the US was unaware of the move by Arg (presidential palace),” said Sayed Eshaq Gailani, head of Nahzat-e-Hambastagi Afghanistan party.

“I want to make one suggestion to our foreign partners, and that is keeping silence over transparency issues in the election process is a sin,” said Anwarul Haq Ahadi, the former Minister of Finance who runs as Chief Executive in Abdullah’s campaign team.

“Today we gathered here to endorse the truthfulness of Dr. Abdullah and to show the support of the Pashtun people to him,” said Haji Din Mohammad, the deputy head of the High Peace Council (HPC).