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Hekmatyar rejects idea of coalition government, calls for elections
Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has rejected the idea of forming a coalition government as the way forward, and instead came out in support of holding elections.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Hekmatyar said that history shows that coalition governments have not been successful in Afghanistan.
“Coalition governments cannot administer a country like Afghanistan. Nowhere has it been successful. In Afghanistan too, it has not been successful. Experience also suggests the same. We witnessed it in the past 40 years. The communists could not form a coalition government. The secularists couldn’t make a successful coalition government in the past 20 years,” Hekmatyar said.
He said that Afghanistan needs “a single-party government.”
“Such a government should be led by a president who is elected and who is leading the most powerful inclusive political party,” Hekmatyar said.
He said that Hezb-e-Islami was the only inclusive political party in Afghanistan.
According to Hekmatyar, the circumstances for holding an election in Afghanistan are more suitable than ever. He said that Afghanistan needs an elected body that would make major decisions.
“If we could hold elections during the occupation when there was fighting in every corner of the country, why can’t we do it now?” Hekmatyar asked. “Isn’t the security situation a hundred times better than it was in the past?”
On calls by some politicians for federalism, Hekmatyar said such a system is not in the interest of Afghanistan.
“A federal system requires a powerful army that could control the situation. It requires a firm government supported by the majority of the public… Raising a federal system now is only watering a tree that has been planted by the enemy.”
Hekmatyar also rejected the idea of holding a Loya Jirga to choose the government, saying it is an outdated practice.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician and former mujahideen leader who twice served as prime minister during the 1990s.
In 2016, he signed a peace deal with the Afghan government and was allowed to return to Afghanistan after almost 20 years in exile.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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