Atmar enters presidential race, criticizes govt's peace policy

AVA- Before submitting his nomination papers with the Independent Election Commission in Kabul, Amtar addressed a gathering to announce his candidacy for the presidential election.
Atmar said he would contest the presidential election with Qanoni as his first and Mohaqqiq as his second deputy presidential candidates.
The former NSA claimed 30 political parties and 20 prominent individuals supported his team “Peace and Moderation.”
He named some of the key figures who supported his electoral ticket as former president Hamid Karzai, Pir Gilani, Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, Syed Mansour Nadari, Ismail Khan, Atta Mohammad Noor and several others.
At the gathering, Atmar signed a document with his running mates.
Atmar also talked about the ongoing international efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan and said concerns about the process existed.
He said the current government’s peace policy was not reliable and decisions in this regard were not taken independently.
He said the government had adopted a peace policy which was in conflict with the demands and wishes of the nation.
He said he would work decisively for peace and the countrymen could not afford to see the bloodshed for another five years.
About his electoral team, he said their ticket’s main objective was to rid Afghanistan of the current government and crises.
Atmar said Afghanistan faced four major threats – the imposed war, international rivalries, instability in the region, poverty and deprivation and the incumbent government’s incompetence.
Atmar ruled out change in the government system but insisted after their victory in the July presidential election, changes would be brought to the Constitution through a loya jirga for the sake of improvement in the system.
He said the post of third deputy president would be created and an advisory board to be comprised of known jihadi faces would be constituted.
Atmar’s first deputy presidential candidate Younas Qanoni also spoke on the occasion and said they named their electoral team as peace and they would work to ensure real peace in the country.
The former Wolesi Jirga speaker said a real peace could come to the country if internal differences were set aside before making peace with the insurgents.