Afghan President, Rejecting US Peace Plan, To Offer Polls In 6 Months: Report

Ashraf Ghani will unveil his proposal at an international gathering in Turkey next month, signalling his refusal to accept US plan for his government to be replaced by an interim administration, officials said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will propose a new presidential election within six months under a peace plan he will put forward as a counter-offer to a U.S. proposal that he rejects, two senior government officials told Reuters. Ghani will unveil his proposal at an international gathering in Turkey next month, signalling his refusal to accept Washington's plan for his elected government to be replaced by an interim administration, the officials said. But he will participate only if Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhunzada, or Mullah Yaqub, the son of the militants' late founder, Mullah Omar, attends, one of the officials said. Washington, which agreed last year to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by May 1 after nearly two decades of war, is pressing for a peace deal to end fighting between the government and the Taliban. Talks between the Afghan sides in Qatar have stalled.