Presidential candidate Mohammad Hanif Atmar, who has been considered as one of Ashraf Ghani’s main rivals in upcoming election because of the people around him, has given up on his bid for the president.
Atmar who worked as National Security Advisor of the national unity government for four and a half years on Tuesday said in a statement that he will not run in the September 28 vote.
The former NSA, who had Yonus Qanooni and Mohammad Mohaqiqa his running mates while registering himself as a candidate, had already refused to hold campaign rallies.
The statement cited the lack of technical, political and security preparations to hold a transparent, fair and inclusive election, and risk of deep political instability as reasons for not holding campaigns for the upcoming vote.
He suggested that the election should have been postponed by a few months.
Atmar said that he will not run on September 28 elections and will endorse no other candidate.
A total of 18 people including incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah registered as candidate for the election. Three of them have so far withdrawn from the race.
