KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani has vowed to block the formation of a provisional government in Afghanistan after calls for the establishment of a temporary establishment began to gain ground across the country.
“I can be sure that as long as I live, they will not see the formation of an interim government. I’m not like those willows that sway with the wind, ”Ghani said on Saturday as he spoke to family members of security forces killed in recent attacks by the Taliban.
He argued that, in such a situation, Afghanistan could face a “bloody and unsettled situation similar to the 1990s” when the Moscow-backed administration was replaced by an interim government.
Earlier, Ghani had said he would hand over power to his successor immediately after his tenure expired in 2025.
He began his second term as president in March last year.
However, there has been much discussion about the need for a transitional government within Afghanistan, with Russia – which had held talks between the Taliban and nonstate Afghan actors twice in recent years – growing up as the latest country to support the movement.
An interim settlement is the best solution to end a long-running conflict in the country, Russia said.
“Moscow prefers that all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan agree on the establishment of an inclusive and interim coalition government,” Russia’s Special Ambassador to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said in an interview with Sputnik. last week.
Responding to a question about the Taliban’s prosecution plan for full control of Afghanistan, the Russian ambassador said it would be a “bad situation” if the Taliban wanted such an approach.
He said delays in starting “real” peace talks had led to the “Taliban’s expansion of their sphere of influence” by taking advantage of the Afghan government’s willingness to engage in crucial talks. . The Taliban, he said, now controls 75 percent of Afghanistan’s territory.
Prior to a statement in Moscow, Mir Rahman Rahmani – the head of Afghanistan’s parliament – was a few front-line chiefs and two mediators appointed by the government for the Taliban-backed peace talks within Afghanistan. get.
Ghani’s latest comments follow his talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Western leaders and senior officials from the U.S. administration who were re-inaugurated by President Joe Biden recently weeks.
Biden has pledged to revise a historic treaty – signed between Washington and the insurgent group in February last year – that set, among other things, a May 1 date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. completely out of the country.
Under the controversial agreement, Ghani has also released thousands of Taliban prisoners held by the government and engaged in peace talks with the group in Doha, Qatar.
However, in an important U-turn last week, NATO said foreign troops would not be evacuated “at the right time,” providing much-needed relief to a dispersed government. is Ghani’s division, which is deceived by slipping across various policy measures regarding the peace process.
Stoltenberg said NATO’s decision was due to the Taliban’s failure to meet a key criterion of the February treaty – to reduce violence and tight ties with Al Qaeda – an allegation that was strongly rejected by the insurgent group .
The Taliban, for their part, have skipped talks within Afghanistan with government emissaries and warned Washington against an expanded presence of foreign troops in the country.
Experts, however, believe Ghani could relinquish his power seat sooner rather than later.
“President Ghani may have been told by representatives of some of the countries he spoke to recently that talks with the Taliban need to be revived and that he could eventually relinquish power,” Nasratullah said. Haqpal, an independent analyst and university teacher, with Arab. News.
“So he is concerned about creating an interim or interim government. So now, in every event or session, he says, ‘I will not take temporary government at the cost of my life’, ”said Haqpal.
Tameem Bahiss, a political analyst on Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the formation of a temporary government would be an urgent topic for recovery during the talks within Afghanistan.
“Afghan powers and opposition leaders have backed a provisional government. Neither the Taliban nor the US have rejected a temporary government, ”he told Arab News.
“U.S. think tanks and experts are suggesting incentives that could force the Taliban to reduce violence and possibly adopt an extension for the troops’ exit date. Dissolution of the current government and the creation of a temporary government will be an operational option to force the Taliban to reduce and possibly end violence, ”he said.
Meanwhile, a councilor for Afghanistan’s former administration said that “the world has lost hope of holding open polls to select Ghani’s representative,” citing allegations of fraudulent polls in recent years. gone.
“This has put Ghani’s leadership under a dark cloud of skepticism, and the international community is no longer willing to fund another round of false elections in Afghanistan,” Torek Farhadi told Arab News.
Farhadi, on the other hand, said that foreign forces were considering leaving in May or a few months later, while several “well-known U.S. experts, including those at the United States Peace Institute United, has warned the Biden administration that the Ghani government could fall under the weight of corruption, austerity and Taliban attacks if the US and NATO now leave.
“The US, NATO and now Russia, Iran, Pakistan and possibly China believe that the current situation in Afghanistan should be addressed through political settlement. This translates into the formation of a coalition government with the Taliban to prevent the Afghan crisis from further endangering the national security of its neighbors, ”he said.