Afghan presidential rivals at last reach unity deal after disputed vote

The rival candidates in Afghanistan’s messy election for a new president finally struck a power-sharing deal on Saturday, aides said, after more than two months of tension over a vote in which each side accused the other of fraud. The crisis has further destabilised Afghanistan just as the U.S.-led military coalition prepares to withdraw most foreign troops at the end of the year, leaving Afghan forces to fight the Taliban insurgency. Teams from both sides had met late into the night with United Nations representatives to try and finalise a power-sharing deal before Sunday’s scheduled announcement of the final election results after a U.N.-monitored audit and recount.

Both camps have agreed 100 percent on everything and we’ll sign the deal tomorrow. Everything has been initialled and there is no disagreement on anything.

Faizullah Zaki, a spokesman for Ghani

The last sticking point was how to announce the results of the audit. Aides and officials said candidate Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, had insisted that the official percentages either not be made public at all or be altered to give him more votes. Abdullah is widely believed to be trailing his rival, ex-Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, in the final tally. The dispute ruined hopes for a smooth democratic transition to replace Hamid Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban’s hardline Islamist government was ousted in 2001 with U.S. military support, and threatened to rekindle the ethnic tensions that had plunged Afghanistan into civil war in the 1990s.

Middle East Afghanistan