US President Barack Obama has called one of the Afghan presidential candidates, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, urging him to maintain calm and not to resort to violence or any extra constitutional measure.
The call from Obama came after supporters of Dr Abdullah announced that he has won the presidential election and called for a cabinet formation.
The preliminary results of the presidential elections declared by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan showed Dr Abdullah trailing by a million votes against his rival Ashraf Ghani.
Alleging massive electoral fraud, Dr Abdullah has refused to accept the election results.
The phone call by Obama to Abdullah is seen as a measure to prevent the situation in Afghanistan from going out of control.
“The President spoke last night to Dr. Abdullah as part of our ongoing effort to engage the candidates and call for calm and dialogue. The President made clear that we expect a thorough review of all reasonable allegations of fraud and that there is no justification for resorting to violent or extra-constitutional measures,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters today.
“We’ve been clear that any such move would cost Afghanistan the financial and security assistance of the United States of America,” Earnest said.
“Serious allegations of fraud have been raised, but they have yet to be adequately investigated. So we reiterate that the preliminary results that were announced yesterday are neither final nor authoritative and may not even predict the final outcome, which could still change based on the findings of Afghans’ electoral bodies,” he said.
“We continue to urge the candidates to maintain calm among their supporters. There is a process in place for adjudicating the concerns that have been raised about fraud in that election, and we’re encouraged or we’re encouraging both candidates and their supporters to allow that process to work its way through so that all of these claims or concerns that have been raised about fraud can be examined and adjudicated so that both sides can respect the outcome of this process,” Earnest said. Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed grave concern over reports of protests and of suggestions of a parallel government.
“I have noted reports of protests in Afghanistan and of suggestions of a parallel government with the gravest concern,” Kerry said in a statement, adding the US expects Afghan electoral institutions to conduct a full and thorough review of all reasonable allegations of irregularities.
“Any action to take power by extra-legal means will cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the United States and the international community,” Kerry warned.
PTI