The Afghan government has proven time and time again that it is the worst enemy for itself, as the Executive Director of the Afghan Unity Government, Abdullah Abdullah, rejected the results of the recent elections, which gave President Ashraf Ghani a slight victory margin, and announced that he would work to form his "comprehensive government".
Many Afghans are concerned that the dispute over these elections is in the interest of the Taliban insurgents. The "Taliban" refused to recognize the legitimacy of the current government in Kabul, considered it a "puppet government", and refused to negotiate with it, and agreed to negotiate with other Afghan groups inside the country, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Unfortunately, until recently, it was the government that described the Taliban as a non-united movement, and as such, it was unable to negotiate with them. But it seems that Kabul is now more divided than before. “Instead of fighting each other, they should find a solution,” said Munir Ahmed Niazi, a professor at Kabul University, to my colleague Abdul Rahman Lacanwal, a journalist who lives in the capital, Kabul. The internal problems between these politicians affect all of us. They are negatively affecting all Afghans, and they must stop it. We need a government that represents the entire population of the country. ”
During the past few days, Abdullah rejected allegations of victory by Ghani, and prevented election officials from traveling outside the country, and appointed officials and governors in two provinces in the north of the country, namely: "Saribul and Jozjan", and Abdullah said: "Our team is the winner of these elections if It was fair, and we declared our victory and the formation of an inclusive government. ” He described the election results as a "national betrayal", "illegal" and a "coup against democracy". Reports stated that Abdullah is now ready to swear an oath as head of a parallel government.
Abdullah has the support of political figures, such as Abdel-Rashid Dostum, one of the warlords, who until recently was Vice President Ghani (although he has no real authority, he even left the country after being accused of rape), but before the election results were published, he criticized He perpetuated the government with a speech in which he claimed that he would not accept any "deceptive results."
Amid the government’s turmoil, negotiations are being talked about among all Afghan political factions. Or at least that is what the Taliban are calling for, and this is what worries many Afghans. "It is regrettable that some Afghans are dissatisfied with the election results," said doctor Muhammad Hanif, who is based in Kabul. I understand this, but many are looking for their personal interests. As an Afghan people, we must come together to confront our enemies with our heads held high. Our enemies will benefit from this crisis. ”
Sharia crisis
The crisis of legitimacy is always repeated. These are three successive presidential elections, which Abdullah refuses to accept, and accuses his opponent of being fraudulent. In 2009, Abdullah lost against former President Hamid Karzai. In 2014, he lost to Ashraf Ghani after a second round of elections. Ultimately, then-US Secretary of State John Kerry had to intervene personally several times to fix the two rivals. To this day, many government critics believe that it was Kerry's decision that made Ghani president, not the votes of Afghan voters.
It seems that Khalilzad is taking the role of Kerry at the present time. After the US envoy's arrival in Kabul, he met several members of the government of the two parties, and he was very busy accomplishing what some observers described as a "second peace process." For those rich in postponing his planned inauguration as president for a second period of five years, due to this conflict with Abdullah, but with the Afghan people feeling very concerned that the Taliban could take over the state a second time, Abdullah faces increasing criticism. “I do not accept what Abdullah does, and I think it is against the law,” said Ahmed Fawad, a government employee in Kabul. And Abdullah cannot appoint employees and form his own government. He doesn't even have a budget for that. ” Others share this view, as Afghan civil activist Muhammad Karim said: “All candidates must accept the result. And the current peace efforts must not be undermined. ”
Different races
On the one hand, this dispute over the elections is due to the different races the two men belong to. While Ghani is considered a favorite for the majority of Pashtun ethnicities, Abdullah is seen as the first choice for non-Pashtuns, such as: Tajiks, Uzbeks, and others. At certain moments, the two candidates depicted themselves as transcending the issue of ethnicity, but they took advantage of the ethnic group to which each belonged, when they believed that this could have benefits for them.
For example, Abdullah is from the ethnic Pashtun Tajik, so he presents himself in the Tajik regions like the Panjshir region, as a Tajik, while in the Pashtun areas like Kandahar, and his father from it, he presents himself as a Pashtun. As for Ghani, he is a Pashtun, and he played explicitly in the Pashtun card, in the 2014 elections, when he added the name of his clan to his name, “Ahmed Zai”, then he canceled this name when he won.
Imran Firoz is a freelance Pakistani journalist
Trouble
As Abdullah takes his steps to create his own government, political troubles begin to boil, especially in the Khost region, which is located in the southeast of Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan, and where the majority of Pashtuns live. According to official figures from the Independent Electoral Commission of Afghanistan, the vast majority of voters in Khost, or 96%, elected Ghani. Many of them do not like Abdullah, according to local journalist Mohamed Zaman, who said: “A lot of people here welcome the announcement of election results. We need to move forward. As for those who lost these elections, they must stop complaining ».
However, election observers say Abdullah may be right, as there is good reason to question the official election results. "There is strong evidence that the IEC and the government were sharing the repression of the voters," said Thomas Johnson, director of the Culture and Conflict Study Program at the Graduate School of Monterey, California,. According to Johnson, who will publish a detailed report on "Ghani’s deception" as he described it, much of the election process was in Ghani's favor. Johnson said: “An evaluation of the polling sites indicates that polling places in the areas that elect Abdullah were closed, and the results of the 2014 elections were approved in these places, and this means suppressing about 200,000 voters, and this suggests that the explicit deprivation of Abdullah's supporters from casting their votes was planned, And calculated well before the start of the elections ».
Johnson, and many voters, say the electoral process needs to be scrutinized. During the election period, there were 9.7 million voters in Afghanistan according to the Independent Election Commission, but only 1.9 million of them, or 20%, cast their votes, and that about 100,000 registered voters, or about 1%, were illegal.
And based on these and other reasons mentioned, the Taliban can find themselves standing on a more solid ground than what the Americans thought, when the movement insisted on meeting with representatives other than government officials.
The crisis of legality is always repeated. These are three successive presidential elections, which Abdullah refuses to accept, and accuses his opponent of being fraudulent. In 2009, Abdullah lost against former President Hamid Karzai. In 2014, he lost to Ashraf Ghani after a second round of elections.