CEO Abdullah Abdullah on Monday said political parties and the public should be assured of transparency in the upcoming polls, saying that the surrendered Daesh fighters in Jawzjan province should be dealt with accordingly.
Abdullah also rejected rumors that some areas were being handed over to the Taliban, stressing that the current relations between the US and the Taliban would pave the ground for government-Taliban negotiations.
In response to the concerns voiced by political parties about elections, Abdullah, speaking to the council of ministers, hoped the Wolesi Jirga and district council as well as presidential elections would take place as scheduled.
The Wolesi Jirga and district council elections are due on October 20 this year.
The CEO said the public’s concerns about the elections should be addressed because Afghan people had braved many threats while registering to vote.
“Many people and political parties have questions about the elections and the election system, and all demand on-time and transparent polls,” Abdullah said.
On July 14, leaders and representatives of a number of political parties termed the voter registration process as inappropriate and fraudulent, demanding the biometric registration of voters.
The parties, including Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan, Jamiat-I-Islami Afghanistan, Wahadat-i-Islami Afghanistan and Junbish-i-Milli and some other parties underlined transparency in the upcoming polls by switching to Multi-Dimensional Representation (MDR) from the current Single-Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) system.
Talking about the surrender of Daesh rebels to the government in Jawzjan province, Dr. Abdullah said: “They were detained during clashes with security forces; their surrender does not mean they are innocent, or the government should ignore their crimes.”
He said that the surrendered Daesh militants should be dealt with in accordance with their deeds. A discussion about the issue with security officials would also be held, he added.
According to reports, around 250 Daesh insurgents surrendered to Afghan forces in Jawzjan last week.
With regard to the alleged handover of some areas to the Taliban, the CEO rejected the rumors as baseless, insisting that the government would never cede any area to the rebels.
“It is a baseless rumor; the Taliban are enemies of the Afghan people as long as they continue fighting. Al Qaeda, Daesh and many other insurgent groups are operating here and none are better than the other,” Abdullah said.
Referring to the Taliban-US talks in Qatar, he said the Afghan government was in full picture of the talks.
He said the US-Taliban talks would pave the ground for direct talks between the insurgent group and the Afghan government. Peace talks are under full leadership of the Afghan government and nothing else is above it, he concluded.