Hezb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has rejected the idea of forming a coalition government as the way forward, and instead came out in support of holding elections.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Hekmatyar said that history shows that coalition governments have not been successful in Afghanistan.

“Coalition governments cannot administer a country like Afghanistan. Nowhere has it been successful. In Afghanistan too, it has not been successful. Experience also suggests the same. We witnessed it in the past 40 years. The communists could not form a coalition government. The secularists couldn’t make a successful coalition government in the past 20 years,” Hekmatyar said.

He said that Afghanistan needs “a single-party government.”

“Such a government should be led by a president who is elected and who is leading the most powerful inclusive political party,” Hekmatyar said.

He said that Hezb-e-Islami was the only inclusive political party in Afghanistan.

According to Hekmatyar, the circumstances for holding an election in Afghanistan are more suitable than ever. He said that Afghanistan needs an elected body that would make major decisions.

“If we could hold elections during the occupation when there was fighting in every corner of the country, why can’t we do it now?” Hekmatyar asked. “Isn’t the security situation a hundred times better than it was in the past?”

On calls by some politicians for federalism, Hekmatyar said such a system is not in the interest of Afghanistan.

“A federal system requires a powerful army that could control the situation. It requires a firm government supported by the majority of the public… Raising a federal system now is only watering a tree that has been planted by the enemy.”

Hekmatyar also rejected the idea of holding a Loya Jirga to choose the government, saying it is an outdated practice.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is an Afghan politician and former mujahideen leader who twice served as prime minister during the 1990s.

In 2016, he signed a peace deal with the Afghan government and was allowed to return to Afghanistan after almost 20 years in exile.