Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai met with residents of northern Jowzjan province on Monday. He promised to exploit the province’s natural gas resources and provide power for the entire country.
The trip to Jowzjan comes toward the end of the second round campaigning period, as Ashraf Ghani and his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, prepare for the June 14 runoff election that will determine which of them will succeed two-term President Hamid Karzai.
Speaking to supporters in Jowzjan, Ghani promised to build a massive gas purification center in the province that would create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs.
The presidential hopeful also promised to preserve the water irrigation patterns that are critical to agriculture and general life in the province while also harnessing water for hydroelectricity.
“Our message to Jowzjan’s farmers and craftsmen is that the water of the Amu River will not be inhibited, we are a strange nation if we cannot use our water,” Ghani said. "Our first decision would be to use the north's water.”
Jowzjan is the hometown of Ashraf Ghani’s First Vice-President General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who expressed concerns about the destruction caused by recent flash floods in the province. He said some 70.000 voting cards of residents were lost or destroyed.
Gen. Dostum said loosing the runoff was not an option for his team.
Ahmad Zia Massoud, who recently endorsed Ashraf Ghani, was present at the trip to Jowzjan province. Massoud, the brother of Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, bears a name that carries great respect in northern Afghanistan.
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/ghani-meets-jowzjan-residents
