Afghanistan's Abdullah Suggests Traditional Way To Resolve Dispute With President Ghani

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2020) Afghan politician Abdullah Abdullah, who is trying to form a unity government with President Ashraf Ghani, called for convening the jirga, a traditional Afghan assembly of several reputed politicians, to find a consensus and put an end to the standoff of two long-term rivals.

Earlier this month, Ghani abolished Abdullah's office of Chief Executive of Afghanistan ahead of forming a new government following official confirmation of his victory in the September 2019 election. The talks to settle the long-running standoff between the two political heavyweights took place on Monday but failed to reach a unity government agreement. Ghani said Abdullah's demands and his views on the power structure and organization contradicted the country's constitution.

"Three or five people be may be called to the jirga to resolve the case, and I am cooperating to resolve the crisis," Abdullah said at a press conference.

Abdullah also defended his demands in talks with Ghani, saying that they were neither illegal not against the constitution.

"I have not made illegal requests for resolution of the problems and would never make decisions on conflicts with national interests," he said.

Ghani and Abdullah competed for the presidency both in 2014 and 2019, with Ghani winning both times and Abdullah disputing the results. The 2014 election led to a drawn out political crisis in the country which forced the United States to broker a power sharing agreement whereby Ghani takes the presidency while a new office, the now abolished Chief Executive, was handed to Abdullah. In 2019, Abdullah refused to concede his defeat to Ghani, decrying September's election as invalid due to fraud, and started forming a parallel government.

The power-sharing crisis comes at a difficult time of peace talks with the Taliban, which could settle the country's 20-year civil war and a US-led foreign intervention. The United States has already agreed on terms of withdrawal with the Islamic movement, but Kabul has yet to hammer out a deal.