Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb-e Islami party, says holding the upcoming presidential election is the only way to solve the crisis in the country, Tolo News reported on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, he said he believes that coalition governments harm a country.
He also said that it was expected he should hold a meeting with participation of all political parties and opposition groups about the situation in the country. While “some of the political parties were reluctant, the meeting will be held in the future with the participation of most of the parties.”
In reply to a question about the ongoing tensions between Atta Mohammad Noor, whose resignation was approved by President Ghani, Hekmatyar said “it is a very small internal issue between him (Atta Mohamad Noor) and the government,” and added it “can be solved by the government.”
More than two weeks ago, the presidential palace announced that the president had accepted the resignation of Noor as Balkh governor. Later the government announced that engineer Mohammad Dawoud had been appointed as successor to Noor.
Noor defied his resignation. He has regularly attended his office as Balkh governor over the past few days and insists that he remained the incumbent governor of the province.
On the issue of the electronic National Identity Cards (e-NIC), Hekmatyar said: “We agree that the nation and nationality be both added to the ID cards. No issue regarding the ID cards must cause a delay in holding of the election.” He called on his supporters to be patient until the holding of the election.
Regarding the Daesh militant group, Hekmatyar said that Daesh fighters are infiltrating into Afghanistan from Iran and rejected rumours that his party members were involved in cooperating with Daesh.
On the peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, he said that the government had failed to engage in purposeful talks with the Taliban, adding that certain circles within the government are trying to weaken the government.
“I can say it with strong belief and honesty that if the government had the capacity of attracting the Taliban, and there was no obstruction of their way, many of the Taliban would join the peace process,” said Hekmatyar.
“The Afghan nation and government have a strong and firm commitment to peace, Hekmatyar is one of the examples of that. Unfortunately, the opponents have no commitment to join the peace process, they have only wasted the time,” Said Asif Sediqi, second deputy of Senate
This comes a week after Amrullah Saleh, the former head of National Directorate of Security (NDS) in a Facebook post accused Hekmatyar of coordinating with Daesh and of efforts by him to release the Daesh inmates from jail.
“It is just part of the defamation by some liars We don’t have any kind of political or party-based relations and will not think about it. We don’t have relations with the Taliban nor with Daesh or Al-Qaeda or any other party. If I say that Daesh comes from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan through Iran, it will not be an exaggeration,” added Hekmatyar.
He alleged that some people are trying to prevent the release of over 91 Hizb-e-Islami prisoners from the jails.
Hekmatyar warned against dividing the government among ethnic groups, saying such a move could lead to the disintegration of Afghanistan.
