Iran Welcomes Afghan Unity Gov’t Deal

Date: 21 September 2014 - 20:53

News ID: ۵۳۶۵

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran on Sunday welcomed the signing of a power-sharing agreement by two Afghan rival presidential candidates, stressing that the Islamic Republic supported a broad-based government in Afghanistan.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported peace, stability and security [in Afghanistan] through the establishment of a broad-based and strong government with the participation of all ethnicities and groups in this country,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Afghanistan’s two rival presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, signed a deal to form a unity government on Sunday.
The Iranian foreign ministry’s statement added that the agreement between the two presidential rivals shows the "political maturity” of the Afghan elite and people and the country’s potential to resolve its internal problems.
It expressed hope that the positive outcome of the deal would pave the way for stronger security as well as growth and prosperity in war-stricken Afghanistan.
Iran reiterates its principled stance of supporting Afghanistan’s integrity and development, while expressing its readiness to cooperate with the new Afghan government and broaden bilateral ties in all fields, the ministry said.
Ghani and Abdullah will share power for the next five years, with Ghani serving as president and Abdullah as a chief executive officer.
In April, defying threats of violence from Taliban militants, millions of Afghans turned out to choose among eight presidential candidates. Abdullah finished first in that contest, but failed to get 50% of the vote, forcing a June runoff against second-place finisher Ghani. Ghani won the runoff by more than 1 million votes, prompting Abdullah and his supporters to allege widespread fraud.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ghani and Abdullah will be expected to make decisions jointly and split appointment-making powers.
Ghani is an ethnic Pashtun who draws the bulk of his support from southern and eastern Afghanistan. Abdullah’s mother was Tajik, but he had a Pashtun father and considers his power base to be in ethnically diverse northern Afghanistan.
Ghani, a former World Bank official, spent part of his life in the United States but returned to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban to serve in outgoing President  Hamid Karzai’s government in the early 2000s. He left his job as finance minister in 2004 and became head of Kabul University.
Abdullah, an eye doctor, was a top aide to legendary Afghan guerrilla commander Ahmed Shah Massoud during Afghanistan’s civil war in the 1990s. He later became a diplomat, and served as foreign minister from 2002 until Karzai ousted him in 2006.