AT News
KABUL: Afghanistan’s warring leaders—President Ashraf Ghani and his estranged ally Abdullah Abdullah—appeared inching closer to a rapprochement as presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi talked about positive progress made in the talks between the two camps.
Without give further details, Sediqqi in a press conference said, “There is progress, the talks are underway and there has been progress.”
A source who wished anonymity said the two leaders (Ghani-Abdullah) will reach an agreement till Friday, and they would officially announce it. He also said that there are some figures inside Abdullah’s camp that are not happy over the deal, pressurizing Abdullah to form parallel government, or at least force Ghani to nullify the result of presidential election in which President Ghani was declared as a winner.
Earlier, Abdullah in tweet said: “Glad to assure the people of Afghanistan that efforts by respected national personalities to resolve the political crisis have borne fruit. We have made progress in negotiations and reached tentative agreement on a range of principles. Work on details is underway to finalize the agreement.”
He furthered; “We hope to finalize the political agreement at the earliest so that we can pay undivided attention to tackling COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring a just, dignified and lasting peace, and confronting the security and economic challenges in a spirit of national unity and solidarity.”
This is as the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Afghan leaders to form an inclusive government as they did form an inclusive peace team. US also threaten to cut one billion dollars and will uphold another one billion dollars if the Ghani and Abdullah failed to reach a compromise.
Recently, Sarwar Danesh, second vice president said that Abdullah Abdullah would become chairman of reconciliation council and that the political tensions would be soon over.
“Efforts are going on to strengthen unity and coordination in the framework of the national partnership government. The two sides will gain final agreement within few days and Mr. Abdullah will assume the leadership of the High Reconciliation Council,” Danesh said in that time.