Mr Ashraf Ghani took over government in Afghanistan in September 2014 due to electoral fraud. According to the law, his term of office ended on the 22/5/2019 at 00.00. However, Mr Ashraf Ghani does not want to leave his seat of government. He is a dictator and is trying to retain power using every means possible. We, as well as the people of Afghanistan and many politicians, do not accept a continuation of his government. The Taliban are also against Ashraf Ghani staying in power. We do not recognise his work in the government either domestically or in foreign policy, because his term has ended. From the 22/5/2019, all members of the government and officials should stay in their positions until further notice. Only Mr Ashraf Ghani should leave the government.
Recently, an Afghan TV channel referred to information from an employee of the constitutional court “Stara Mohkama”, according to which Mr Ashraf Ghani forced the court to portray the continuation of his government beyond the 22/5/2019 as compliant with the constitution. Mr Ashraf Ghani, in fact, has influence over the constitutional court. However, the fact is that an extension to Mr Ashraf Ghani’s rule is illegal, and in no way corresponds to the will of the people.
Over the last three years, Mr Ashraf Ghani has engaged in election manipulation three times, in the presidential elections in 2014, then in the second ballots (presidential run-off) in 2014, and most recently in the parliamentary elections in October 2018. In the secondary ballots (presidential run-off) in 2014, he received financial payments amounting to several million US dollars from a range of traders and mafia groups who wanted him to win the election, to help finance his election campaign. In return, during his term in office, Mr Ashraf Ghani sold state-owned land to the above dealers and mafia groups at knock-down prices.
Recently, Mr Ashraf Ghani opened the new parliamentary term and so allowed a mafia group into parliament. The members of parliament are mainly drug dealers, smugglers and corrupt persons. Most of these members of parliament have paid up to 1 million US dollars in bribes to gain their seat in parliament. As the composition of his parliament shows, Mr Ashraf Ghani would like to occupy the positions in a future Afghan government with mafia groups. At the same time, Afghanistan has enough suitable, trained, qualified experts, high-ranking diplomats and academics for government and parliament. However, these people did not have any money to buy the seats in parliament. It is not a parliament, but a criminal headquarters. We do not want to accept a parliament like this. In the event of a takeover of government, we want to throw out all the members of parliament selected by this electoral fraud.
To help achieve his personal goals, Mr Ashraf Ghani convened the large council “Loya Jirga” in the period from the 29/4/2019 to 3/5/2019. The “Loya Jirga” achieved no positive results of any kind. We, and the majority of the Afghan people, plus several politicians, were against convening the “Loya Jirga” as it was clear from the outset that a “Loya Jirga” would not be in a position to facilitate the desired peace. Mr Ashraf Ghani squandered state money amounting to several million dollars on the “Loya Jirga”. During this period, the city of Kabul was besieged by the security forces. Major connecting roads were blocked. Businesses and Store had to stay closed. Traders suffered economic damage in the tens of millions (US dollars). Schoolchildren were not able to go to school for a week. Those in poverty were not able to go to work. Mr Ashraf Ghani must pay for this damage and these costs.
Mr Ashraf Ghani has failed in all areas of his governmental tasks. The situation in Afghanistan has become worse during his term, including domestic security, women’s rights, corruption, unemployment, opium cultivation, drug trade, poverty etc. Around 54% of the Afghani population live below the poverty level. It seems Mr Ashraf Ghani is not interested in solving the problems, rather he has concentrated on furthering his own interests, namely acting as a ruler and king.
During the 5 years of his term, Mr Ashraf Ghani has trampled all over the Afghan constitution many times. Furthermore, time and again, he has lied to the Afghan people. Using tricks and lies, he tries to get the tribes in Afghanistan involved in disputes with each other. However, this has failed, as the Afghans have a mutual love for each other.
For 2 years, Mr Ashraf Ghani has been running a secret election campaign at the state’s expense. He has made trips to several provinces as part of his election campaign. He has also use the major council assembly “Loya Jirga” for his own benefit as an election campaign. He continually invites people to his presidential palace to promote himself. All of this is illegal electoral campaign activity.
In March 2019, Mr Ashraf Ghani’s wife, Mrs Rula Ghani wanted to distribute state money amounting to a billion Afghanis to the women of Afghanistan, at a rate of 500 Afghanis per person. This was an attempt to campaign for election on behalf of her husband Mr Ashraf Ghani. For this purpose, she sent the money to various clinics with the order to distribute the money to the women. Some of the money has already been distributed by the clinics. When the Taliban found out about this, they took the money away from a clinic in Jalalabad and burnt it. Mrs Rula Ghani is also embroiled in nepotism. She comes from Lebanon and has worked to ensure some state contracts were awarded to Lebanese people, to ensure higher commissions to her relatives in Lebanon. This means Mrs Rula Ghani could be prosecuted for improper distribution of state funds and nepotism.
Afghanistan urgently needs order, freedom, economic progress, women’s rights, peace and happiness. It has become clear to both us and the Afghan people that Mr Ashraf Ghani will not bring peace and order, but chaos. He does not have the character of a statesman. In January 2019, he insulted high-ranking politicians in front of rolling cameras. Mr Ashraf Ghani has made himself liable to prosecution due to the electoral fraud stated above,as well as corruption, nepotism and improper distribution of state funds.
As Mr Ashraf Ghani is not prepared to give up his governmental seat, we would therefore like to encourage active service units of the interior and defence ministries to remove him from the presidential palace, as his term of office as president has come to an end. This approach should no be seen as a coup, rather we want to save Afghanistan. The action should be peaceful so it does not endanger anyone. Having said that, with Mr Ashraf Ghani, we’re dealing with an aggressive, arrogant person. So it would be understandable if the active service units (police and soldiers) had to take appropriate measures to defend themselves. After these measures, it would be good if Mr Ashraf Ghani and his wife Rula Ghani were placed under house arrest in a 2-room apartment, with a ban on travel overseas, because he is aggressive, and he and his wife would be liable to face several prosecutions.
We encourage the politicians and the Afghan people to take appropriate, non-violent action against the dictator Ashraf Ghani, to force him to hand over power to a transitional government.
We would warn Iran against going to war with our partner nations such as the USA, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and others. If Iran attacks these countries, then our nation of Afghanistan will not remain neutral, but support the alliance against Iran. Afghanistan has a powerful army, and so should not be underestimated by Iran.
We demand that Iran immediately stops building nuclear weapons and rockets, as these weapons of mass destruction pose a threat to the world.
If Iran does not change its behaviour, and we take on the role of government, we reserve the right to reduce all imports from Iran to Afghanistan, which currently amount to several billion US dollars, to zero.
With best wishes
Hayattullah Maiwand