Fraud Committed on Both Sides in Afghan Election: US Ambassador
KABUL: (Middle East Press) James B. Cunningham the US ambassador to Afghanistan, has said that both sides have committed fraud during the second round of presidential election.
In interview with CNN’s Amanpour, Cunningham said there was fraud committed on both sides.
“We know that from various sources and various kinds of evidence. But we don’t know how much. There are charges and allegations on both sides that I’m not in a position to pass judgment on at this point,” he said.
Cunningham also responded to a question regarding Washington’s concerns about the persistence of differences between the two candidates and any illegal act to create an temporary government and take power.
He told Amanpour, “There are reports and there have been threats and we take them seriously,” the Ambassador told her.
“We’ve been very vocal about the fact that there needs to be an Afghan government that’s created through the legitimate and constitutional process that we won’t support any actions outside of the constitution and the legal process,” Cunningham added.
He said, “That’s what the Afghan political class and the Afghan people should be focused on. It’s that kind of government that will have the support of a broad range of Afghan opinion but very importantly, it’s only a government that comes out of a constitutional process that will have this kind of support.”
The remarks by Cunningham comes as the electon audit process was once again spoiled due to differences between the candidates that resulted to suspension of the process on Wednesday.
Dr. Abdullah’s electoral camp warned that to refuse the audit process and said they have set demands and conditions for audit and invalidation of the ballots.
In the meantime, reports suggest that the election commission along with UN and International observers resumed the audit process after almost 7 hours of delay on Wednesday.
The observers of Dr. Ghani were also asked to pull from the audit process due to the absence of Dr. Abdullah’s observers.
