Karzai sees no signs of mayhem after polls

KABUL (Pajhwok): President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday there were no signs of mayhem after the presidential runoff election, urging both the frontrunners to maintain friendly approach to each other during their campaigns.

The president, who met owners of media outlets, said the canvassing environment during the April 5 presidential and provincial council elections had been excellent.

He said the media, the presidential contenders and their supporters should strive to maintain cordial atmosphere in the lead-up to the June 14 runoff vote.

The runoff race is between Abdullah Abdullah, who topped the previous round, and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai after both failed to obtain the magic 50 plus one percent votes necessary for an outright majority.

President Karzai hoped the new government would be formed with greater consensus and it would represent all the Afghans.

Afghanistan, he said, was on the path to stability, development and prosperity. “I will highly respect the next president. I will be there if the next president asks me for advice on issues of national importance,” he remarked.

The outgoing president said both the presidential candidates benefited from the media in promoting their campaigns and the next government should preserve the media gains and freedom.

However, he said the Afghan media was yet to realise the country’s national interest while media in other countries considered it a top priority.

In response to a question that what was the major achievement of his decade-long tenure, Karzai said it was Afghanistan once again becoming the home of all Afghans.

In the past, he said, the Afghans would opt to migrate to other countries, but now people from all walks of life had representation in the parliament.  

From the improvement of the once ruined education sector to students getting higher education abroad and earning Afghanistan a respectable position among the comity of nations were some of his achievements during the past decade, he remarked.

Karzai also talked about some of his failures during his presidency, saying he could not implement laws as needed. He could not do so because of lack of enough capable, professional individuals and powerful institutions in the government framework.    

mrh/rm/ma

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