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President Ghani’s recent efforts of forming a parallel setup indicate his dreadful intention toward the peace process, Khurram asserts.
AT News
KABUL: Abdul Karim Khurram, Former Chief of Staff to the President Hamid Karzai said that the government has failed to maintain political and national consensus on the peace process.
He voiced criticism on the formation of membership of the high council for national reconciliation and said that the council was monopolized by the government.
“Those who are included in this council have never been consulted,” Khurram said in an interview with TOLO News, a local tv channel.
He said that even the chairman of the council, Abdullah Abdullah might have not been consulted regarding the formation of the membership of the council. He expressed concerns on the existence of some governmental officials in the formation of the council, saying that these officials seriously opposed the peace process.
According to him, President Ghani’s recent efforts of forming parallel organizations show his bad intention toward the peace process.
“All these will further complicate the issues and it is also considered a waste of time,” he added. “Facing the country towards crisis to stay in power is a big and historic responsibility.”
Referring to the power sharing deal between President Ghani and Chairman Abdullah, Khurram said that the reconciliation council was supposed to be an independent body.
He linked the success and failure of the peace process to the US intentions, saying that if the US President Donald Trump wanted to reach some tremendous progress in peace quest as an achievement before the presidential election, he would support the process despite poor formation of the council. “But the absence of the influential figures in the process will affect the legitimacy of the process,” he added.
The list of the members of the reconciliation council signed in a decree by President Ghani was released on Saturday, and faced widespread reaction by some influential politicians. They said that the government didn’t consult with them regarding their inclusion in the list.
Former President Hamid Karzai, whose name was in the list, has denied his inclusion as the member of the council but he said to support peace efforts as a normal citizen of the country.
