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Ghani to propose elections in counter-offer to US proposal: Report
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will propose a new presidential election within six months, under a peace plan he will put forward as a counter-offer to a U.S. proposal that he rejects, two senior government officials told Reuters.
According to Reuters, Ghani will unveil his proposal at an international gathering in Turkey next month, signalling his refusal to accept Washington’s plan for his elected government to be replaced by an interim administration, the officials said.
Washington, which agreed last year in a deal with the Taliban to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 after nearly two decades, is pressing for a peace deal to end the war between the government and the Taliban.
This comes amid stalled negotiations in Doha.
U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has been circulating a proposal which would replace the Kabul government with an interim administration. But Ghani has voiced vehement opposition to any solution that requires his government to step aside for unelected successors.
“The counterproposal which we are going to present at the Istanbul meeting would be to call for early presidential elections if the Taliban agree on a ceasefire,” one senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another Afghan government official told Reuters: “The president would never agree to step aside and any future government should be formed through democratic process, not a political deal.”
A third senior official also said Ghani’s proposal would include possible early elections, although he did not specify the exact time frame for the vote. The third official said Ghani had already shared his road map with Khalilzad.
With just weeks left before the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline, Washington is seeking regional backing for its approach to push the Kabul government and insurgents to share power.
But diplomats and foreign officials have said it will be difficult to move forward with the U.S. plans without Ghani’s support, Reuters reported.
During a visit to the region, which included stops in Doha and Islamabad, Khalilzad pushed for a conference to be hosted by Turkey with involvement from the United Nations next month.
The Afghan officials said that as part of Ghani’s counter-proposal, his government would ask the U.N. to closely observe the new election to ensure it is accepted by all sides.
A presidential palace spokesman declined to comment.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called a United Nations report on Afghan opiates “tailor-made political propaganda” saying such publications do not help combat drug trafficking in Afghanistan.
The ministry said that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, published in late October, recorded an increase in the cultivation, production and distribution of Afghan opiates for the first time since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) imposed a ban in 2022.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the report, which the IEA has already rejected as politically motivated, appears unbalanced and relies on indirect evidence, including satellite images that are open to different expert interpretations.
According to UN estimates cited in the report, the area under poppy cultivation increased from 10,200 hectares in 2025 to 43,300 hectares in 2026, while opium production rose from 300 tonnes to 1,470 tonnes.
The ministry acknowledged that Afghanistan’s drug problem still exists and said authorities in Kabul are aware of the issue. It added that Afghan security forces conduct almost daily operations in various parts of the country to destroy drug laboratories and seize narcotics.
According to the statement, more than 7.4 tonnes of various narcotics and over 4.7 tonnes of precursor chemicals were seized in Afghanistan over the past week, while two drug laboratories were dismantled.
Cooperation between the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment and the Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce has paved the way for exporting potatoes from Bamyan province to the Uzbek market.
In this regard, Sayed Karim Hashemi, President of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, and Doran Vahabov, President of the Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce, have agreed on the export of 100,000 tons of Bamyan potatoes to Uzbekistan. Work is underway to finalize the export agreement.
Meanwhile, the first shipment of potatoes, consisting of eight trucks, has departed for the Uzbek city of Termez through the Hairatan Port.
The chambers of commerce of both countries, in cooperation with local authorities in Bamyan, have facilitated connections between traders and farmers and coordinated the purchasing, marketing, and transportation of the produce. This initiative is expected to expand market opportunities for Bamyan farmers and strengthen trade between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Afghanistan’s Prime Minister, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk in Kabul on Thursday evening, emphasizing the need to strengthen bilateral relations and expand economic cooperation between the two countries.
According to a statement from the Presidential Palace, several senior officials from both countries attended the meeting, including Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and representatives of Russia’s political and economic sectors.
Akhund described Afghanistan’s security and stability as favourable conditions for foreign investment and thanked Moscow for recognizing the Islamic Emirate and supporting Afghanistan in international forums.
Meanwhile, Overchuk praised the security situation and developments in Afghanistan, expressing Russia’s interest in investing in various sectors of the country.
He said around 70 representatives of Russia’s private sector were accompanying the delegation and were expected to hold discussions with relevant ministries and institutions of the Islamic Emirate on trade and investment agreements, as well as ways to address existing obstacles.
The Russian deputy prime minister reaffirmed his country’s support for Afghanistan in various fields.
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