Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said on Monday he would not participate in a planned peace dialogue in China, due to opposition by the incumbent president Ashraf Ghani.
Speaking in a press conference, Karzai said that Ghani’s representatives had told him that the Beijing meeting would be held at presidential level.
“They thought that national reconciliation government would be discussed in China meeting and I didn’t want to attend the meeting while Ghani has worries,” Karzai said.
He, however, said that Ghani had called also for non-participation of some other figures and that he rejected it.
Last month, a spokesman for Karzai, who attended the first round of intra-Afghan talks in Russia in February, said Karzai would go to China meeting if invited.
Referring to presidential election which faces deadlock, Karzai warned that the country was heading for crisis and urged President Ghani “to rethink the situation.”
He said that low turnout in the election suggested that for Afghans peace was top priority.
Karzai also condemned recent attacks on political analysts and urged the government to defend right to free speech.
He also said that security forces should not be used in advancing personal agendas.
