Ashraf Ghani To Resign, Ali Ahamd Jalali To Be App. As New Interim Head

(This was originally posted in LiveMint)

There are negotiations going on in the Afghan Presidential Palace ARG to transfer power to the Taliban with Ali Ahamd Jalali as head of the new interim government, The Khaama Press, largest news agency of Afghanistan, reported on Sunday. The Head of High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah is said to be mediating the process. Ali Ahamd Jalali will be appointed as head of the new interim government, said The Khaama Press.

Sputnik reported that Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to resign within the next few hours.  Taliban fighters have entered Kabul and sought the unconditional surrender of the central government. However, Acting Ministers of Interior and Foreign Affairs Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal today assured the people of Kabul that they will be secured as they are protecting the city along with international allies.

Mirzakwal said Kabul will not be attacked and that the transition will happen peacefully. Mirzakwal assured Kabul residents that security forces will ensure the security of the city. Earlier today, the Taliban said that they won’t take Kabul by force. They assured residents of Kabul no to be afraid as they are not intended to enter the Afghan capital militarily and there will be a peaceful movement towards Kabul.

According to reports, the Taliban entered the capital city from all sides and have now ordered its members to wait near Kabul gates and not attempt to enter the city. Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov has told Sputnik that Moscow is working on convening an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the issue of Afghanistan.

“We will convene [the meeting]. But it will not change the situation, we should have thought about it earlier, and not hold seatings now,” Kabulov said. The First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Dzhabarov, told Sputnik that the situation in Afghanistan must be urgently discussed in the UN Security Council, as the fate of the country seemed to have been foreclosed. He added that Russia cannot and will not interfere in the situation in Afghanistan, as it is a sovereign state.