ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday avoided commenting on result of the Afghan presidential election. “We have noted the announcement made by the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan. We are monitoring the developments and will respond at an appropriate time,” said FO spokesperson Aisha Farooqui at the weekly media briefing.

While announcing results of the Sept 28 polls on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s election commission declared President Ashraf Ghani as the winner, securing 50.64 per cent of the votes, and Abdullah Abdullah, with 39.52 per cent of the votes, as the runner up.

Mr Abdullah, who held the position of chief executive before the election, rejected the results as “unfair” and declared himself the winner.

This was the fourth Afghan presidential election since fall of the Taliban government in 2001.

It should be noted that several other countries — including the US, Britain, Russia and Iran — and the United Nations have avoided commenting on the results because of the controversy over the outcome.

This controversy has come ahead of the likely signing of a deal between the United States and the Taliban by the end of February, which is then expected to lead to intra-Afghan negotiations.

“Pakistan is keen to see the peace process move forward and lead towards intra-Afghan dialogue,” the spokesperson said.