By: Mirwais Jalalzai
US foreign minister Johan Kerry has hailed the latest agreement of the two Afghan leaders who inked a power-sharing agreement on Sunday.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was announced announced as the new president of Afghanistan following the agreement, replacing outgoing President Hamid Karzai.
Meanwhile Abdullah Abdullah, the runner-up, will become chief executive of new government.
“These two men have put the people of Afghanistan first, and they’ve ensured that the first peaceful democratic transition in the history of their country begins with national unity,” Kerry said in a statement.
“Americans know very well that the road to democracy is contentious and challenging, but it’s a road that leads to the best place,” Kerry said, adding that “It doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve had our own contentious elections and witnessed their aftermath. I’ve lived some of them. But if my recent visits to Kabul and the hours upon hours on the phone with these two men have taught me anything, it’s how invested Afghanistan is in this historic effort.”
In the meantime, President Hamid Karzai said “I am very happy today that both of my brothers, Dr. Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, in an Afghan agreement for the benefit of this country, for the progress and development of this country, that they agreed on the structure affirming the new government of Afghanistan,” Karzai said at the agreement signing ceremony in Kabul.
Afghanistan’s neighboring countries including Iran also welcomed the announcement by the Afghan independent election commission.
The Iranian foreign ministry in a statement issued on Sunday welcomed the political agreement reached between Afghan presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah for forming a national unity government.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran as a neighbor and permanent supporter of Afghanistan has always backed up peace, stability and security in light of the formation of a comprehensive and strong government with the partnership of all tribes and groups in that country,” the statement said.
The Iranian foreign ministry described the recent agreement between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah as a symbol of political ripeness of the Afghan elites and people and the high capacity and capability of the Afghan society for settling its internal problems.
The statement underlined Iran’s principled policy of supporting Afghanistan’s integrity and development, and announced the country’s readiness for cooperation with the new Afghan government and expansion of the two countries’ relations.
