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Ghani to seek re-election in Afghan presidential poll: official
KABUL, Nov 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will seek re-
election in 2019, his office announced Saturday, as potential rivals begin
jockeying for the country’s top job ahead of the ballot.
Ghani, who was elected in a fraud-tainted poll in 2014 that was only
resolved in a US-brokered power-sharing deal, is expected to present himself
to war-weary voters as the candidate who can end the 17-year conflict.
The acerbic academic, who has a reputation for shouting at subordinates
and micromanaging the unity government, will try to capitalise on renewed US-
led efforts to engage the Taliban in peace talks, which are showing tentative
signs of bearing fruit.
“I can confirm that President Ghani is seeking re-election next year,”
presidential palace spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi told AFP.
Ghani, who chose the widely feared ethnic Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum
as his first running mate in the 2014 election, has not yet announced who he
will pick this time round.
It also is not certain who will challenge Ghani in the April 20 ballot.
Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s equivalent of prime
minister, and former national security adviser Mohammad Haneef Atmar, who
quit in August, are among potential contenders.
Former Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, whose refusal to
stand down from his position sparked a months-long political crisis for
Ghani, has previously expressed interest in the job.
Nominations open on November 10, the same day that the embattled
Independent Election Commission is scheduled to release the results of last
month’s shambolic parliamentary poll.
Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, will need more than the support of Afghanistan’s
largest ethnic group if he is to succeed at the ballot box and he has already
started trying to win over rival ethnicities.
Vice President Dostum’s controversial return from exile in July was
interpreted as an attempt by Ghani to secure votes from the minority group.
Ghani’s presidency has been marred by growing militant violence, record-
high civilian casualties, political infighting and deepening ethnic
divisions.
He took office in 2014 as US-led NATO combat troops withdrew from the
country, sparking a resurgence in the Taliban which also coincided with the
emergence of the Islamic State group in the region.
In February, under growing pressure from the international community which
provides critical financial and military backing to the government, Ghani
made a peace offer to the Taliban.
That was followed in June by an unprecedented ceasefire between Afghan
troops and Taliban fighters that lasted three days and spurred hopes that
peace was possible.
Taliban representatives have met with US officials at least twice in Qatar
in recent months, most recently on October 12 with newly appointed US peace
envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
BSS/AFP/FI/1359 hrs