Presidential runoff candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai attended Hashmat Karzai’s, President Hamid Karzai’s cousin, praying ceremony in his hometown in the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday.
Both candidates announced the assassination of Karzai as a major loss to Afghanistan and expressed their shock from his sudden death.
“Today I came here to offer my sympathies to the bereaved family and pray for the martyred Khalil Karzai and that patience is given to those who survive him,” Abdullah said.
“I was very depressed about the demise of Hashmat Karzai,” Ghani-Ahmadzai said. “His death is a major lose.”
This was the first time the two candidates appeared together in front of the media since the publicized agreement brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Hekmat Karzai, the brother of the late Hashmat Karzai, expressed his loss by sharing the wish his brother and he had for the country.
“Hashmat Khalil Karzai always told me that peace must be restored in Afghanistan,” he uttered. “We both must work together so that peace is maintained in the country. I demand that both candidates work together to reach make my brother’s ambition of peace a reality.”
Hashmat Khalil Karzai was assassinated inside his home on the second day of Eid in a suicide attack in southern Kandahar province.