Kabul: The European Union (EU) reiterated its appeal to Afghan political leaders, referring to President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, to settle their political differences as soon as possible and focus their efforts on Afghanistan's national interests; otherwise, future aid funding might be affected.

"As friends and major donors to Afghanistan, we...expressed concern that lack of progress may negatively affect future funding for the security and development of the country," said the EU mission in Kabul.

In phone calls with Abdullah Abdullah, the EU envoy to Afghanistan, Pierre Mayaudon, along with other European ambassadors in the country warned that a continued political impasse could have a negative impact on international aid to Afghanistan's development and security spheres.

"We emphasized that the political divisions must end now," said the EU mission in Afghanistan, referring to an audio call between Abdullah Abdullah and head of the EU Delegation, Member States Ambassadors and the Ambassador of Norway.

"If the internal disagreements are allowed to continue, it will put the future and well-being of the Afghan people at risk. The broader interest of the national must come first," according to a press release issued by the EU mission in Kabul.

Meanwhile, Abdullah's spokesman said that in the telephone conversations, discussions were focused mainly on the settlement of the current political impasse and the peace process.

According to Abdullah's spokesman, in recent days Abdullah held telephone conversations with a number of EU envoys including Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the Russian ambassador to Kabul.

"Important discussions were held regarding the issue of how to take better advantage of the existing opportunity towards the peace process and also the expansion of international cooperation towards battling coronavirus," said Omid Maisam, a spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah. (English or Farsi?)

"Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani should understand the difficulties of the Afghan people," said Baktash Eshchi, a member of parliament.

"Fortunately, according to the information, consultations and discussions have been concluded, the leaders of Stability and Convergence (Abdullah's camp) have inched close to a final conclusion," said Abdullah Qarloq, a member of the Meshrano Jirga (Senate).

The EU has called on Afghan leaders to consider three important topics as their priority, including working for the national interests of Afghanistan, coming together in the struggle against COVID-19, and accelerating efforts for the start of intra-Afghan talks.

Nevertheless, Abdullah Abdullah in a message has said that in view of the ongoing situations in the country, he supports finding solutions to the issues that are acceptable to the Afghan people.

"The necessity of ensuring a robust and collective response to the rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic and to start the peace negotiations makes resolving the situation of the greatest urgency," said the EU mission's press release.

https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/afghan-political-impasse-may-affect-foreign-funding-eu