Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on Monday called for a neutral investigation to be launched into the allegations of sexual abuse of women and promoting depravity at the Presidential Palace, the ARG.
He warned that if such accusations were tackled politically, this will pose a major blow to the credibility of the government and to the image of women in the society.
“Recently allegations were made about the election of women in the parliament which have left negative impacts on the views of the people. This issue should be investigated independently and any political dealing with the issue should refrain. If the issue is tackled politically, this would have impacts on the healthy efforts of the women of the country and this will not be compensable especially by those faithful and committed women who are working across Afghanistan,” Abdullah said at the Council of Ministers meeting.
This comes few days a Habibullah Ahmadzai, a former advisor to President Ashraf Ghani, leveled some severe allegations against the presidential palace and claimed that close circle to the president at ARG is involved in "sexual bribery of women and depravity".
According to Ahmadzai, he has leveled the allegations based on credible pieces of evidence and documents.
“Some explanations in nature are related to the dignity of the people and I don’t want to explain that now. I think when the investigations are carried out, I will provide all pieces of evidence and documents,” Ahmadzai told reporters on Monday.
Ghani’s spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri, meanwhile, has dismissed the allegations as baseless.
“Mr. Habib Ahmadzai's allegations are completely false and baseless. This issue will be thoroughly investigated and the results will be shared with the people of Afghanistan. The National Unity Government has paid serious attention to women's rights. Mr. Ahmadzai's allegations are an insult to the women who have sacrificed for so long to reach decision-making levels. No one will be allowed to harm the honor of the Afghan women,” said Chakhansuri.
Ahmadzai said that he raised the issue with the higher level officials at the Presidential Palace on several occasions, but no one bothered to take action against this "horrific trend".
Ahmadzai also said that some female parliamentary elections candidates were made an MP only in exchange of 500 or 600 votes.
“It’s a political game, it’s a financial corruption game and it’s a moral corruption game. Unfortunately, they made a deal on a national and democratic process and sabotaged it,” said Najiba Faeez, a protesting candidate.
“At least the responsible authority should send a delegation here to asses our documents in front of media and be responsive to us. Based on which logic and law have they taken out our votes?” asked a protesting candidate from Kandahar Arozo Safai.
Saleema Nekbin is a protesting candidate named initially appeared in the winning candidates' list of parliamentary elections. However, her name was later taken out from the final list.
“Oppression carried out against many including our twelve sisters who are sitting in the protest camp now. From this tribune, I want to raise my voice for justice, not only for my own but for all other women. I have credible documents. My removal was systematic. I have the information. My name was on the final list until 7:15 am that day,” said Nekbin.
Most of the allegations are referred to the address of office of Ghani’s top aide Fazel Fazli.
Previously, Amrullah Saleh, who is currently running as Ghani’s first vice president in the upcoming presidential elections, had in a Twitter post revealed ties between members of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Fazli’s office.
Later on, Fazli reacted to Saleh’s accusations and said that he was always ‘shooting on the dark like a guerrilla’.
The council of presidential candidates also hailed Ahmadzai’s statement as a "bold move".