BREAKING NEWS DR #ABDULLAH REJECTS NEW RECOUNT OF VOTE BUT STOPS SHORT OF WITHDRAWING AND SAYS NEGOTIATED OUTCOME POSSIBLE DISAVOWS VIOLENCE... #KABUL—#Afghanistan on Monday averted the total collapse of a historic political transition, as presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah stopped short of withdrawing from a disputed presidential race and urged his supporters to refrain from violence. Today I want to make this clear: The political process has reached a deadlock, Mr. Abdullah said Monday in an address to followers in Kabul. Our supporters have the right to ask us why they wasted their time on this process. He added, however, that a negotiated outcome to the crisis was still possible. I assure the people of Afghanistan that we are not pro-violence, he said. Those assurances come amid a crisis that followed a June 14 runoff election to pick a successor to President Hamid #Karzai, in what was meant to be the first democratic transition in the countrys history. The two candidates—Mr. Abdullah, a former foreign minister, and former finance minister Ashraf #Ghani —have both claimed victory, and months of negotiations facilitated by the U.S. and by the United Nations failed to break the impasse. Tensions deepened over the past week with both candidates threatening to pull out of talks aimed at forming a shared government. Over the weekend, President Barack #Obama called the two men to urge them to reach a power-sharing deal quickly. Campaign insiders had said that Mr. Abdullahs highly-anticipated press appearance Monday would signal his withdrawal from the election process, propelling the country toward fragmentation along ethnic lines and street violence. That, for now, didnt happen. Mr. Abdullah is half-Tajik and half-Pashtun, and much of his support base comes from the countrys west and north; Mr. Ghani is a Pashtun from the east, his stronghold. Mr. Abdullah draws particularly strong support from ethnic Tajiks in the Panjshir, a mountainous province northeast of Kabul. On Tuesday, the country marks the anniversary of the death of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a famous mujahedeen commander from Panjshir who was assassinated by al Qaeda days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Mr. Abdullah, who entered politics as Mr. Massouds aide, urged supporters not to turn the celebration into a confrontation. Tomorrow is the death anniversary of the national hero, he said. I have a request for all our supporters: All the people of Afghanistan have offered martyrs. Dont mix these two [elections and the anniversary] issues. Mr. Abdullahs camp in recent days made it clear it doesnt want the countrys election commission to release the results of an audit of the 8 million votes cast, something widely expected to show Mr. Ghani winning. The announcement, in their view, would make a political deal impossible, since they insist the two camps should have equal weight in the future administration. Mr. Abdullahs team believes as many as two million votes on June 14 are fraudulent, a number large enough to swing the final result. Unofficial estimates, however, indicate that fewer than one million votes may be thrown out as fraudulent under the current invalidation rules, less than Mr. Ghanis estimated margin of victory. The future of an Afghanistan that will be a viable partner with the international community…cannot be based on the foundation of fraud, on a fraudulent government, Mr. Abdullah said. The results of a U.N.-supervised audit of all votes cast in the June 14 runoff are expected to be released within days, but Mr. Abdullah, who has rejected its methodology as too lenient, on Monday reiterated he wouldnt accept them. Above all, the two camps still disagree on how to share power. Mr. Abdullah and his allies want power to be shared evenly between the two teams. Mr. Ghanis camp, on the other hand, wants the winning camp to play a much bigger role. They also disagree on the powers of a future president. Mr. Abdullahs camp wants to see its powers diluted in favor of a chief executive officer, who would be picked from the losing side. Eventually, they want Afghanistans political system to shift to a parliamentary system. Mr. Ghanis camp has rejected these demands as unconstitutional. A new president needs to come to power for Afghanistan to sign long-term security pacts with the U.S. and its Western allies. President Karzai has refused to sign the agreement, which would allow a small number of foreign troops to stay in the country after 2015 and is tied to vital financial assistance. The force would focus on training Afghan troops in counterterrorism operations. At a high-level North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting last week, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATOs secretary-general, reminded Afghanistans leaders that time is running out for signing the agreements.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:22:33 +0000
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