Afghan president accepts acting FM Rabbani’s resignation

KABUL: Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has accepted the request for resignation of acting Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani from his position, an official said Thursday.Chief Presidential Spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed in a post on Twitter that Ghani has accepted Rabbani's resignation on the basis of article 64 of the Constitution of Afghanistan.

Rabbani, also leader of a political party, Jamiat-e-Islami of Afghanistan, announced his resignation after handing over a letter to Ghani late Wednesday.

"After five years of service as minister of foreign affairs, I have resigned from my position. The continued process of state institutions being damaged, undermined pushed aside in various ways was no longer tolerable," Rabbani said on Twitter.

He said that he would continue to work for and remain in the service of Afghan people.

The decision came weeks after the country had held its fourth presidential election since 2001 when the Taliban regime was ousted

Rabbani began his tenure as foreign minister but later continued in the position as acting foreign minister. During the one-day election held on Sept 28, 14 out of the 18 registered hopefuls contested for the presidency with a five-year term and among the candidates are sitting President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) failed to announce planned preliminary results of the poll on Oct 19, while the final results are expected on Nov 7, according to election officials.