KABUL: Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah dismissed Tuesday a new peace proposal by his election rival President Ashraf Ghani as an unrealistic “wishlist,” and again questioned the validity of thousands of votes from recent polls.
US President Donald Trump in September ended year-long talks with the Taliban amid ongoing insurgent violence, leaving Afghans wondering what comes next in the gruelling conflict.
Ghani’s team last month released a seven-point proposal meant to build on those talks and bring an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year-old war with the Taliban.
While some observers have praised aspects of the detailed proposal for its scope, they question whether certain elements — including a call for a month-long Taliban cease-fire before talks resume — are feasible.
“To be honest, nobody has taken that so-called seven-point plan as a plan... it’s rather a wishlist,” Abdullah said in an interview with AFP.
“Nobody is taking it seriously — neither the people of Afghanistan, nor anybody.”
The US-Taliban negotiations centered on the Pentagon pulling troops in return for Taliban security guarantees, but drew scorn from Ghani’s government, which was systematically cut out because the insurgents do not recognize the administration.
Abdullah said it is imperative for any future talks to include negotiators from the Afghan government, be it led by him or by Ghani.
Any negotiating team “has to be inclusive. Government has to be a part of that,” Abdullah, 59, said in his sprawling official compound next to the presidential palace in the center of Kabul.
Abdullah is locked in a bitter election race with his next-door neighbor Ghani.
The two rivals squared off in a first-round vote on September 28 and election officials have repeatedly delayed announcing initial results, citing various technical problems.
In 2014, Ghani and Abdullah fought a close and angry race that sparked widespread allegations of fraud and saw the US step in to broker an awkward power-sharing agreement between the rivals under a unity government.
Abdullah’s position, not mentioned in the constitution, was created to end ongoing disputes that threatened political collapse.
There are signs this year’s election risks a repeat of 2014, with both Ghani’s and Abdullah’s camps alleging fraud.
But Abdullah, who has previously said he believes he secured the most votes, said he would “absolutely” respect the result of recent polls — if the process is fair and transparent.
On Monday, his team said problems remained with about 300,000 of the 1.8 million votes that the Independent Election Commission has said are valid.
The IEC had failed to communicate to the public what is happening in the counting process, Abdullah said, and “they have not explained it transparently to our representatives... more transparency is needed.”
This year’s vote is supposed to be the cleanest yet in Afghanistan’s young democracy, with a German firm supplying biometric machines meant to stop people from voting more than once.
But Abdullah said problems remain even with these high-tech votes, claiming that photos attached to some ballots had been taken from fake identity cards, and not actual voters.
Already, nearly a million of the initial votes cast have been purged owing to irregularities, meaning the recent election saw by far the lowest turnout 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 a while it looked like the election would get shunted aside to make way for ongoing negotiations.
When asked how he differs from Ghani, Abdullah said the president has proven himself to be a divisive figure who failed to live up to his promises, including his pledge to root out the rampant corruption endemic across the Afghan government.
He also accused Ghani of prioritising his grip on power over striving for peace.
Ghani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Afghan chief executive slams president’s ‘wishlist’ peace plan
Afghan chief executive slams president’s ‘wishlist’ peace plan
- Abdullah said it is imperative for any future talks to include negotiators from the Afghan government
- Abdullah’s position, not mentioned in the constitution, was created to end ongoing disputes that threatened political collapse
US defense chief Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike, NYT reports
- Chat group included Hegseth's wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Houthi militants that were sent in another chain
- Hegseth’s use of Signal messaging chat and the sharing of such plans are under investigation by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, The New York Times reported.
A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press.
The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. They also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘ Team Huddle.”
The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.
The revelation of the additional chat group brought fresh criticism against Hegseth and President Donald Trump’s wider administration after it has failed to take action so far against the top national security officials who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal.
“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X. “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”
The first chat, set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz, included a number of Cabinet members and came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group.
The contents of that chat, which The Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth listed weapons systems and a timeline for the attack on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen last month.
The White House, the National Security Council and a Pentagon spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the additional chat group.
Hegseth has previously contended that no classified information or war plans were shared in the chat with the journalist.
The Times reported Sunday that the second chat had the same warplane launch times that the first chat included. Multiple former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified and their release could have put pilots in danger.
Hegseth’s use of Signal and the sharing of such plans are under investigation by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general. It came at the request of the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Republican Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and ranking Democratic member Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
The new revelations come amid further turmoil at the Pentagon. Four officials in Hegseth’s inner circle departed last week as the Pentagon conducts a widespread investigation for information leaks.
Dan Caldwell, a Hegseth aide; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, were escorted out of the Pentagon.
While the three initially had been placed on leave pending the investigation, a joint statement shared by Caldwell on X on Saturday said the three “still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”
Caldwell was the staff member designated as Hegseth’s point person in the Signal chat with Trump Cabinet members.
Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot also announced he was resigning last week, unrelated to the leaks. The Pentagon said, however, that Ullyot was asked to resign.
Trump says he hopes Russia, Ukraine to strike ‘deal this week’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he hoped for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal “this week,” promising “big business with the United States” for both combatants if a truce is signed.
“Hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week,” Trump posted to his Truth Social network, without giving details of any progress in peace talks Washington has sought to push forward since he took over from Joe Biden in January.
Congo suspends Kabila’s political party
- Joseph Kabila, who was president for 18 years up to 2019, remains head of his People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, the Interior Ministry said
KINSHASA: The Democratic Republic of Congo government said it suspended the political party of former President Joseph Kabila days after security services raided his properties.
“This decision follows the overt activism” of Kabila, who was president for 18 years up to 2019 and remains head of his People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, PPRD, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
PPRD activities “are suspended across all the national territory,” the statement said.
There was no immediate reaction from the party.
Current leader President Felix Tshisekedi has accused Kabila of preparing “an insurrection” and backing an alliance that includes the M23 armed group that is fighting government forces in eastern DR Congo.
According to a spokesman for his family, Kabila, 53, left the country before the last presidential election in 2023.
But in early April, in a message relayed by his staff, he said he would return on an unspecified date because the country was “in peril.”
There are unconfirmed suggestions that he will arrive, or is already in, the eastern city of Goma.
The family spokesman said on Thursday that security services mounted raids on Kabila’s main property, a farm east of Kinshasa, and on a compound belonging to the family in the capital.
The Interior Ministry statement accused Kabila’s party of keeping “a guilty, or even complicit, silence” over “the Rwandan war of aggression.”
Kinshasa, UN experts, and several international powers have said M23 is backed by Rwanda, which denies the charge.
The armed group is at the center of a new surge in conflict in eastern DR Congo, having taken the key cities of Goma and Bukavu.
The DR Congo ministry statement said Kabila has maintained an “ambiguous attitude” on the M23 rebellion, which he “has never condemned.”
It criticized Kabila’s “deliberate choice” to enter the country through the city of Goma, under the “control of the enemy.”
A separate statement from the country’s Justice Ministry said the chief prosecutor had been asked to start legal action against Kabila for “his direction participation” in M23.
Exec linked to Bangkok building collapse arrested
BANGKOK: Thai authorities said they have arrested a Chinese executive at a company that was building a Bangkok skyscraper which collapsed in a major earthquake, leaving dozens dead.
The 30-story tower was reduced to an immense pile of rubble when a 7.7-magnitude quake struck neighboring Myanmar last month, killing 47 people at the construction site and leaving another 47 missing.
Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told a news conference Saturday that a Thai court had issued arrest warrants for four individuals, including three Thai nationals, at China Railway No.10 for breaching the Foreign Business Act.
The Department of Special Investigation, which is under the justice ministry, said in a statement Saturday that one of the four had been arrested — a Chinese “company representative” who they named as Zhang.
China Railway No.10 was part of a joint venture with an Italian-Thai firm to build the State Audit Office tower before its collapse.
Zhang is listed as a 49-percent shareholder in the firm, while the three Thai citizens have a 51-percent stake in the company.
But Tawee told journalists that “we have evidence ... that the three Thais were holding shares for other foreign independents.”
The Foreign Business Act says that foreigners may hold no more than 49 percent of shares in a company.
Separately, Tawee said several investigations related to the collapse were ongoing, including over the possibility of bid rigging and the use of fake signatures of engineers in construction supervisor contracts.
Earlier this month Thai safety officials said testing of steel rebars — struts used to reinforce concrete — from the site has found that some of the metal used was substandard.
The skyscraper was the only major building in the capital to fall in the catastrophic March 28 earthquake that has killed more than 3,700 people in Thailand and neighboring Myanmar.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaching Easter truce
- Ukraine’s forces reported 2,935 violations of Russia’s own Easter ceasefire vow, Zelensky said
- The 30-hour truce had been meant to start Saturday to mark the religious holiday
KRAMATORSK: Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The 30-hour truce had been meant to start Saturday to mark the religious holiday, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of keeping up its attacks on the front line.
Ukraine’s forces reported 2,935 violations of Russia’s own Easter ceasefire vow, Zelensky said early on Monday.
“The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirrored: we will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Zelensky also renewed a proposal for a 30-day truce.
Moscow said it had “repelled” assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching hundreds of drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.
“Despite the announcement of the Easter truce, Ukrainian units at night made attempts to attack” Russia’s positions in the Donetsk region, its defense ministry added.
Russian troops had “strictly observed the ceasefire,” the defense ministry insisted.
Rescue services in the eastern town of Kostyantynivka said they had recovered the bodies of a man and a woman from the ruins of building hit the previous day by Russian shelling.
The Russian-appointed mayor of Gorlovka in occupied Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, said two civilians had been wounded there, without giving details.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now occupies around 20 percent of the country.
Putin’s order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get the war rivals to agree to a ceasefire.
But on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.
Ukrainian soldiers told AFP that they had noticed a lull in fighting.
A drone unit commander said that Russia’s activity had “significantly decreased both in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions,” combat zones in the south and northeast where the unit is active.
“Several assaults were recorded, but those were solitary incidents involving small groups,” the commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Fewer guys (soldiers) will die today.”
Russian “artillery is not working. it is quiet compared to a regular day,” Sergiy, a junior lieutenant fighting in the Sumy border region, wrote to AFP in a message.
Ukrainian troops “are on the defensive,” he added. “If the enemy doesn’t move forward, they don’t shoot.”
AFP journalists monitoring in eastern Ukraine heard fewer explosions than usual and saw no smoke on the horizon.
Putin announced a truce from 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) Saturday to midnight Sunday Moscow time (2100 GMT), saying it was motivated by “humanitarian reasons.”
Zelensky responded that Ukraine was ready to follow suit and proposed extending the truce for 30 days to “give peace a chance.”
But he said Sunday that Russia “has not yet responded to this.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had given no order to extend the truce.
In Kyiv, as Easter Sunday bells rang out, people doubted Russia’s good faith.
“They’ve already broken their promise,” said 38-year-old Olga Grachova, who works in marketing. “Unfortunately, we cannot trust Russia today.”
Natalia, a 41-year-old medic, said of Zelensky’s 30-day proposal: “Everything we offer, unfortunately, remains only our offers. Nobody responds to them.”
People in Moscow welcomed an Easter truce and hoped for more progress toward an end to the war.
“We dreamt of course that peace would come by Easter. Let it come soon,” said Svetlana, a 34-year-old housewife.
“I think that this awful thing will end at some point, but not soon,” said Irina Volkova, a 73-year-old pensioner.
“All is not going well for us in Ukraine,” she added. “People are dying, our guys are dying.”
Moscow said this weekend that it had now recovered 99.5 percent of its Kursk region, which Ukrainian troops occupied in a surprise offensive in August.
