Former security chief to run in Afghan presidential vote
KABUL: A former ally of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who was one of the Western-backed government’s most influential security officials before resigning unexpectedly this year, has announced he plans to run in next year’s presidential election.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the former national security adviser who was once considered the second-most powerful oficial in the government, will be running against his former boss in the election, due on April 20.
Withanincreasinglyconidenttaliban in control of large areas of Afghanistan and violence across the country, the election is shaping up as a major challenge to the government, with speculation rising that the poll may have to be delayed.
Campaigninghasalsobeencomplicated by efforts to start a peace process with the Taliban, who have ruled out talking with Ghani’s government, which they consider an illegitimate foreign-imposed regime.
Announcing his candidacy in an interview with Tolo News television late on Wednesday, Atmar said he would welcome talks with the Taliban, on condition that fundamentals of the constitution, including human and women’s rights, were unchanged.
“Wewelcometheirreturntothesystem for permanent and stable peace, but a Taliban regime is not acceptable,” he said.
An ethnic Pashtun former intelligence oficer in the communist government who lost a leg ighting the anti-soviet Mujahideen in the 1980s, Atmar is also well-liked by Western oficials.
He was a central igure behind a 2014 bilateral security agreement with the United States and a 2016 reconciliation accord that allowed former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to return to Kabul and rejoin the political mainstream.