Afghan Poll Contender Claims Victory

Afghan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah has claimed victory in last month’s poll, despite results giving a lead to his rival, Ashraf Ghani.

Addressing supporters in Kabul, Mr Abdullah repeated claims that the election process was marred by fraud.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had earlier warned against a power grab, amid reports that Mr Abdullah was planning a “parallel government”.

Meanwhile, a bomb near Kabul has killed 16 people, including four Nato troops.

Ten civilians and two police officers were also reportedly killed in the attack on a clinic near Bagram, home to the largest US base in the country.
afgan.jpg
Mr Abdullah told the gathering in Kabul that he would never “accept a fraudulent government”.

“We are the winners of this round of elections, without any doubt,” he said, to cheers from the crowd.

However, he stopped short of declaring a parallel government as his supporters had earlier suggested he might. Instead, he called for a unified country.

“We don’t want civil war, we don’t want a crisis,” he said. “We want stability, national unity, not division.”

agencies

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *