Ex-PM Gulbuddin Hekmatyar joins race for Afghan president

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-i-Islami political party, on Saturday registered to run for president in the upcoming election slated for July, Afghan media said

Hekmatyar, a former militant leader who spent two decades in hiding, criticized the current administration saying it was “imposed from the outside.”

“This government has failed,” Hekmatyar said after being registered at the Independent Election Commission in Kabul. “Today, more than 100 people are killed every day. We still have six million refugees abroad. We have around two million refugees.”

“The government has no plans for peace, reconstruction, tackling poverty, unemployment,” Hekmatyar said adding the government was deeply sunk in corruption.

Hekmatyar’s running mates are Fazl Hadi Wazin and Mufti Hafizur Rahman Naqi, both religious scholars.

Hekmatyar vowed to hold Loya Jirga to change the Constitution, but rejected the idea of establishing a prime minister post.