US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad arrived in Kabul on Wednesday, after signing a peace deal with the Taliban in Qatar.
Abdullah and Khalilzad discussed ways to implement US-Taliban deal, intra-Afghan talks, building confidence between sides, achieving sustainable peace, as well as election crisis, Abdullah’s office said in a statement.
Abdullah has rejected the election’s final results in which the incumbent president Ashraf Ghani was declared winner. He has been introducing governors in provinces and is preparing to hold a parallel presidential inauguration.
Ghani was set to hold his second-term inauguration last Thursday, but it was postponed to March 9.
Khalilzad welcomed the postponement saying it would “allow time for necessary consultations so that the best interests of Afghanistan and its people are reflected and preserved by the new government.”
Sediq Sediqi, a spokesman for the president, said that the swearing-in will be held on the due date.
Sources said that Abdullah is planning to hold a parallel inauguration on the same day of Ghani’s inauguration or a day before it.
According to the US-Taliban deal, intra-Afghan negotiations are expected to start on March 10.
However, it is likely to be delayed as Ghani has rejected the clause of the deal with requires release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners before talks begin.
