Afghan candidates end clash

Election rivals ink deal to inaugurate new president by the end of August

Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates have signed a deal to cooperate on the formation of a government of national unity, both candidates said following meetings with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday.

A joint declaration that both of the candidates signed, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, did not provide details on the government's framework, except to say that both sides would form commissions to work on its structure.

The power-sharing deal, agreed verbally during Kerry's last visit to Afghanistan a month ago, was intended to pull the country back from war along ethnic lines after both candidates claimed victory in an election marred by widespread fraud.

"One of these men is going to be president but both are going to be critical to the future of Afghanistan no matter what," Kerry told reporters in Kabul.

The two candidates, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah stood by Kerry as he spoke.

The joint declaration stated the candidates would agree to a timeline for the electoral process and inauguration date for the next president by the end of August. Afghanistan's Western backers hope an audit of votes will produce a legitimate president before a NATO summit in early September.

The United Nations is supervising a full recount of all 8 million votes cast in a June runoff vote, as agreed during Kerry's last visit to Afghanistan a month ago.

"This audit is not about winning and losing, it is about achieving a credible result that people of Afghanistan deserve," Kerry added.

The election was to mark Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power before most foreign troops pull out at the end of 2014.

The NATO summit is scheduled to sign off on a US-led "training and advisory" mission in Afghanistan next year after all foreign combat troops withdraw by December.

But NATO nations have expressed reluctance to make costly commitments if the country fails to complete its first democratic transfer of power - a key goal of the massive international military and aid effort since 2001.

"We would like to see the inauguration, ideally, by the end of the month," said a US official traveling with Kerry. "It's important for a new president to be able to go to NATO and ask for these commitments, including continued Afghan National Security Forces costs."

On Friday morning, Kerry met with outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has also called for the inauguration of his successor to be held within weeks.

Karzai, who has ruled since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, said the uncertainty was damaging Afghanistan's fragile security and economy.

Taliban insurgents have launched new operations in the south and east in recent months, and violence is increasing across the country, according to several independent reports.

US-led foreign troops have been reduced from a peak of 150,000 in 2012 to about 44,300 now, and NATO combat operations are winding down fast after 13 years of fighting that have failed to defeat the Taliban.

Western nations that sent troops and billions of dollars worth of aid to Afghanistan since 2001 had hoped that a smooth election would be a flagship legacy of progress made since the austere Taliban era.

(China Daily 08/09/2014 page11)