India Welcomes The Formation Of ‘Unity Government’ In Afghanistan

KABUL (Afghanistan): India welcomed the agreement signed by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday, bringing them together in government and appointing the latter to the High Peace Council tasked with talks with the Taliban.

Ghani spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted on Sunday that a political deal between the two had been signed, in which  Ghani would remain President of the war-torn nation.

Omed Maisam, a spokesman for Abdullah’s team, confirmed an agreement had been signed at the presidential palace. “A technical team will work on the implementation of the agreement and details will be shared later,” he said.

The deal calls for Abdullah to lead the country’s National Reconciliation High Council and to appoint an equal number of his team members as cabinet members.

The Reconciliation High Council would handle and approve all affairs related to Afghanistan’s peace process.

India has consistently supported inclusive governance, national unity, strong institutions, Constitutional order, rights of all sections of society and the territorial integrity of Afghanistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a media release said:

The continuing and enhanced violence and terror in Afghanistan is a matter of deep concern. India calls for an immediate ceasefire and assistance to the people of Afghanistan to deal with the humanitarian situation arising from COVID-19.

India hopes the Political Agreement and creation of the High Council of National Reconciliation will result in renewed efforts for establishing enduring peace and stability and putting an end to externally sponsored terrorism and violence.

The ongoing feud is seen as one of several reasons for the delay in the country’s peace process and some experts worried it risked sparking an all-out civil war.

The start of those talks is a key condition for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by mid-2021, as outlined in February’s U.S.-Taliban deal. Several other factors have delayed the talks, originally slated to begin March 10.

News of Sunday’s agreement was welcomed by the U.S. officials, including Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.

“The U.S. is prepared to partner with the new govt in a peace process that ends the war,” Khalilzad wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, Khalilzad said a new start date for the intra-Afghan negotiations was being discussed, despite lingering disagreements over a prisoner release and mounting violence across the country.

In March, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Washington was withholding $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan this year and potentially another $1 billion next year if Ghani and Abdullah could not work out their problems. That had followed a visit by Pompeo to Kabul during which he was unable to broker a deal between the two men.

Afghanistan’s election commission in February declared Ghani the winner of the presidential poll, nearly five months after it was held.

However, Abdullah rejected the results — citing fraud and other irregularities — held his own inauguration ceremony the same day as Ghani’s and vowed to form a parallel government.

The deepening political crisis led to concerns that the government would be divided and weak going into negotiations with the Taliban over the country’s future.

Abdullah also contested the results of the 2009 and 2014 elections. After the 2014 vote, then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry helped broker a deal that created the position of chief executive for Abdullah and named Ghani president.

from League of India