KABUL – Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah dismissed Tuesday anew peace proposal by his election rival President Ashraf Ghani as anunrealistic “wishlist”, and again questioned the validity of thousands ofvotes from recent polls.

US President Donald Trump in September ended year-long talks with theTaliban amid ongoing insurgent violence, leaving Afghans wondering whatcomes next in the gruelling conflict.

Ghani’s team last month released a seven-point proposal meant to build onthose talks and bring an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year-old war with theTaliban.

While some observers have praised aspects of the detailed proposal for itsscope, they question whether certain elements — including a call for amonth-long Taliban ceasefire before talks resume — are feasible.

“To be honest, nobody has taken that so-called seven-point plan as aplan… it’s rather a wishlist,” Abdullah said in an interview with AFP.

“Nobody is taking it seriously — neither the people of Afghanistan, noranybody.”

The US-Taliban negotiations centred on the Pentagon pulling troops inreturn for Taliban security guarantees, but drew scorn from Ghani’sgovernment, which was systematically cut out because the insurgents do notrecognise the administration.

Abdullah said it is imperative for any future talks to include negotiatorsfrom the Afghan government, be it led by him or by Ghani.

Any negotiating team “has to be inclusive. Government has to be a part ofthat”, Abdullah, 59, said in his sprawling official compound next to thepresidential palace in the centre of Kabul.

Abdullah is locked in a bitter election race with his next-door neighbourGhani.

The two rivals squared off in a first-round vote on September 28 andelection officials have repeatedly delayed announcing initial results,citing various technical problems.

In 2014, Ghani and Abdullah fought a close and angry race that sparkedwidespread allegations of fraud and saw the US step in to broker an awkwardpower-sharing agreement between the rivals under a unity government.

Abdullah’s position, not mentioned in the constitution, was created to endongoing disputes that threatened political collapse.

– 2014 repeat? –

There are signs this year’s election risks a repeat of 2014, with bothGhani’s and Abdullah’s camps alleging fraud.

But Abdullah, who has previously said he believes he secured the mostvotes, said he would “absolutely” respect the result of recent polls — ifthe process is fair and transparent.

On Monday, his team said problems remained with about 300,000 of the 1.8million votes that the Independent Election Commission has said are valid.

The IEC had failed to communicate to the public what is happening in thecounting process, Abdullah said, and “they have not explained ittransparently to our representatives… more transparency is needed.”

This year’s vote is supposed to be the cleanest yet in Afghanistan’s youngdemocracy, with a German firm supplying biometric machines meant to stoppeople from voting more than once.

But Abdullah said problems remain even with these high-tech votes, claimingthat photos attached to some ballots had been taken from fake identitycards, and not actual voters.

Already, nearly a million of the initial votes cast have been purged owingto irregularities, meaning the recent election saw by far the lowestturnout of any Afghan poll.

With Afghanistan’s war the overarching concern, presidential candidates’policy positions were often drowned out by US-Taliban talks, and for awhile it looked like the election would get shunted aside to make way forongoing negotiations.

When asked how he differs from Ghani, Abdullah said the president hasproven himself to be a divisive figure who failed to live up to hispromises, including his pledge to root out the rampant corruption endemicacross the Afghan government.

He also accused Ghani of prioritising his grip on power over striving forpeace.

In a statement, Ghani’s office said the president’s peace plan had “clearobjectives” towards a sustainable peace and pointed to a historic,three-day ceasefire last year as proof he can get results.

Ghani’s team also highlighted his corruption reform efforts, and his peaceefforts “that will unify us, not fragment us”. – APP/AFP