The call came at an NSC meeting, chaired by President Hamid Karzai and attended by high-ranking security officials. The participants discussed current conditions characterised by a fall in government revenue and a surge in kidnappings and other crimes.
At the meeting, the participants were shown a Finance Ministry report that noted a decrease of one billion afghanis, a fall in rates of different commodities and a decline in investment during the last two months.
According to a statement from the Presidential Palace, the meeting linked the surge in crime and fall in trade activity to the inordinate holdup in announcement of the election outcome.
IEC officials are equally interested in unveiling the final results, according to commission spokesman Noor Muhammad Noor. He told Pajhwok Afghan News: "We can't declare the results until the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) evaluates the complaints referred to it."
By the same toke, a professor of economics at the
Prof. Saifuddin Saihoon asked: "How will an entrepreneur invest in a country whose political future is still uncertain? In the prevailing situation, the professor argued, both the economy and security were major casualties.
"With government functionaries involved in campaigns and economic managers awaiting poll results, the economy is bound to suffer," he maintained.
The final results of the landmark presidential and provincial elections, held on August 20, are yet to be announced. Provisional returns announced by the (IEC) show President Hamid Karzai on course to win a second term.
Karzai is followed by his former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah while French-educated politician Ramazan Bashardost is a distant third. In all, 30 candidates contested the presidential ballot, marred by allegations of massive irregularities.
mud/frm
