Abdullah calls for a group of five national figures to help end political impasse

Abdullah Abdullah says a 5-member group should step in and resolve the political turmoil between him and Ashraf Ghani in a matter of 10 days.

Abdullah, who claims to be the president, said that he had severally met Ashraf Ghani in person, but had had to hear no from him. Now Abdullah gave the responsibility to national figures to come up with a solution.

He said, “National and prominent figures should form a group of three to five and step in the case. We will give it 10 days to reduce the concerns of the people and resolve the tension. We will do everything to resolve the case.”

Pointing to Mike Pompeo’s visit to Kabul, Abdullah said that the US had warned the Afghan political leaders that in case the tensions continue, the US would take further actions apart from cutting the aid.

Abdullah said, “Mike Pompeo said that he had not come to mediate or suggest a formula.”

This comes as the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, besides expressing disappointment over the Ghani-Abdullah differences, said that he was hopeful for the tensions to be resolved soon.

Mike Pompeo has said that all Afghan leaders, including Ghani and Abdullah, need to get along to work for a better future for the people of Afghanistan, and that the tensions should be resolved through negotiating.

Ashraf Ghani, however, hasn’t said anything regarding Abdullah’s proposal, but he previously had said that Abdullah’s proposals were against the constitution as he wanted the constitution to get amended overnight to change the state.

Previously, Hamid Karzai and Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf’s mediations to resolve the tensions between Ghani and Abdullah ended inconclusively.