Army Won’t Allow Any Form of Violence, Khalid Warns

The Acting Minister of Defense Asadullah Khalid on Saturday warned that Afghan military forces will not allow individuals to erupt violence due to their disagreements over vote recount process.

Minister Khalid accepted that concerns are existed, but he said the process will not go into a crisis. He urged politicians to peaceful resolve their differences with the electoral bodies.

“I’m confident that our politicians have the understanding of not going toward the crisis. We will not let any form of violence to disrupt the daily life of the people of Afghanistan,” Khalid said.

Meanwhile, the Chairwoman of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) expressed her concerns, saying the Commission does not want the partial recount process to be faced with violence in the remaining seven provinces.

“We have worries, because when we call on our provincial offices to start the vote recount and there is a violence, and something happens. It may damage the election process,” Ms. Nuristani said.

The IEC has finalized the vote recount process in 24 provinces, but supporters of Abdullah’s Stability and Partnership campaign did not allow officials to start the process in seven provinces in the north of the country.

A number of presidential candidates including Abdullah Abdullah, a leading candidate, have boycotted the recount process, claiming the commission is trying to validate fraudulent votes.

Abdullah’s campaign claimed that one of their observers was shot dead by Afghan security forces during a protest in Kunduz province, but the presidential palace and Afghan security institutions rejected the allegations.

Following that Afghanistan’s First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum who is a supporter of Abdullah’s ticket warned that he will order his forces to respond with “bullets” if army soldiers hit our people with a gunstock.

By Hesamuddin Hesam