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Kerry mediates in Afghan vote

July 12, 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting with Afghan officials in a bid to help resolve a deadlock after disputed presidential elections. He has made little headway so far.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CbeD
US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks as he stands next to Afghanistan's presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah (L) at the start of a meeting at the US embassy in Kabul July 11, 2014.
Image: Reuters

US Secretary of State John Kerry (above right) met for a second day on Saturday with rival Afghan presidential candidates amid continuing efforts to resolve a bitter dispute over who is to be the successor of outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

Kerry held further talks with the candidates, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah (above left), after discussions on Friday ended inconclusively.

He is also to meet with Karzai again on Saturday after Friday's talks.

Preliminary results from a June 14 election run-off put Ghani in the lead by almost one million votes, an outcome disputed by Abdullah, who claims results were the product of widespread fraud.

UN audit?

The United States has been urging the Independent Electoral Commission not to issue the final tally until the United Nations has been able to review the votes. It has also called on both Ghani and Abdullah not to declare victory in the elections, which the US had hoped would contribute to stability in the troubled country after the withdrawal of US troops at the end of the year.

In comments made on Friday, Kerry said establishing the legitimacy of the election was essential if Afghanistan were to achieve a smooth transition to becoming a self-reliant country.

Ongoing insurgency

Afghanistan stands in need of a strong government that can unite the country and suppress an insurgency by the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 before being ousted in a US-led invasion in 2001.

In a further manifestation of the violence wracking the country, at least eight civilians were killed on Saturday in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but roadside bombs are a weapon commonly used by the Taliban.

The attack comes after a UN report released on Wednesday showed civilian casualties in Afghanistan soaring by 24 percent to 4,583 in the first half of 2014 compared with the same period in 2013.

tj/jlw (Reuters, AP, AFP)