Daily Times

Afghanistan on Friday summoned the Kabul-based United Nations envoy after he met President Ashraf Ghani’s rival Dr Abdullah Abdullah, who has declared himself as the president and announced to establish a parallel government.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan was summoned by Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri.

“Acting Minister Chakhansuri reminded Mr. Yamamoto that the electoral process has reached to its end and in accordance with the Constitution of Afghanistan, H.E. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has been recognized and took oath as the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” a foreign ministry statement said, without referring to Yamamoto’s meeting with Abdullah.

The UN envoy was told that President Ghani, in his speech during the oath-taking ceremony, emphasized that he would establish an inclusive government. “Thus, discussing matters related to Afghan politics must not be in contradiction to the Constitution of Afghanistan and international norms.”

“SRSG Yamamoto responded with the principle UN position of not recognizing nor supporting any parallel government in Afghanistan. He insisted that he has discussed this principle position of the UN with all Afghan politicians that he has met since President Ghani took the oath.” He further presented the congratulatory letter of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the occasion of President Ghani’s second-term inauguration.

Acting Minister Chakhansuri received the congratulatory letter of the UNSG and appreciated the UN support to the electoral process in Afghanistan. Yamamoto met Abdullah on Thursday and stressed in a twitter post the importance of Afghan leaders “coming together to create an inclusive government acceptable to all, respecting the constitution. This is critical for forming a representative peace negotiation team.

“Besides Yamamoto, US special envoy Zalamy Khalilzad held a series of meetings with Abdullah on Thursday as part of his efforts for a patch-up between Abdulllah and Ghani. Khalilzad told Shamshad TV that political confrontation is a “gift” for the Taliban, describing political tension between Ghani and Abdullah his very dangerous for Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Taliban said on Friday that they will not accept any foreign imposed system as it is the fundamental right of the Afghan nation to determine its own future.

A Taliban statement said the agreement signed with the United States on Feb. 29 clearly states that no foreign nation shall interfere in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

“The Afghans shall chart a course for their future in a free atmosphere. The time has now come for the implementation of this principle as other sides and forces must end repetition of their failed and implausible experiments,” the statement said, adding the Afghan nation should be allowed to determine their own future with their own freewill so that they can achieve their ultimate goal of enduring peace and national unity.

“History has proven that whenever a foreign power has tried to snatch this right away from our Muslim nation and impose a system that opposes our Islamic and national values, they have faced historical failures,” the statement added.