Mohammad Mohaqqiq, who was dismissed as second deputy Chief Executive last week, has refused to leave the post, saying the president cannot remove him as the government was formed based on a political agreement.
“As long as the National Unity Government remains, I am a member of the government based on NUG agreement,” Mohaqiq said in an exclusive interview with 1TV. “It was an obsessional move.”
Mohaqiq suggested that the president’s move was a response to his joining the presidential election ticket of Hanif Atmar, a former national security adviser.
“It shows that our ticket is a breaker team for them and this disturbed them,” Mohaqiq said. “He (Ghani) has lost his nerve.”
Mohaqiq became second deputy of CE Abdullah Abdullah following a disputed presidential election in 2014.
In his decree, the president didn’t say why he dismissed Mohaqiq, who is running for second vice presidency with presidential candidate Hanif Atmar, who resigned as Ghani’s national security adviser last year over policy differences with the president.
“I bid farewell to Dr. Abdullah and told him that our brotherhood would be kept and that he would be always be respected by us, but removing this lawless man from Arg (presidential palace) requires a new team,” Mohaqiq said.
Mohaqiq said that it was Atmar who acted as a link with Ghani in the government. “Talking directly with he himself (Ghani) was not possible,” Mohaqiq said.
