KABUL, April 1: Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed on Friday the formation of Afghanistan’s first opposition party by his main opponent in last year’s presidential vote as an important democratic step for the country. Yunus Qanooni, the chief rival to Karzai during last year’s presidential vote, said on Thursday that he had formed the war-shattered country’s first opposition coalition.

Mr Qanooni, who finished second to Karzai in last October’s race with 16 per cent of the vote, said he had joined forces with several little-known political parties ahead of Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections on September 18.

“Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, welcomes the creation of the Afghanistan National Coordination Front as the opposition to the government of Afghanistan,” said a presidential statement.

“The president appreciates this initiative which aims to establish an opposition to the government, within the democratic political framework in Afghanistan, and considers it as an important step towards strengthening democracy and the rule of law in Afghanistan,” the statement said..—AFP