Kerry in Kabul to Try to Break Power-Sharing Deadlock

Kerry in Kabul to Try to Break Power-Sharing Deadlock

US Secretary of State John Kerry attends a meeting with an Afghan presidential candidate at the US embassy in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/Getty Images)

Thursday, 07 Aug 2014 11:03 AM

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/kerry-kabul-power-sharing/2014/08/07/id/587447

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday for his second visit in under a month to push a deal between the country's two presidential candidates on how to share power after an audit of a disputed election is complete.

Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah shook hands on an agreement to resolve the election row after Kerry's visit in July, but they remain far apart on critical components of their pact to form a united government.

Although a painstaking audit of all eight million ballots cast in the second round of voting is underway, neither candidate has openly endorsed the process and the deadlock has raised the spectre of violent conflict along ethnic lines.

Afghanistan's Western backers hope the audit will produce a legitimate president before a NATO summit in early September, and Kerry will meet both candidates as well as President Hamid Karzai to drive forward the deal.

While Karzai has said the next president will be inaugurated on Aug. 25, most officials involved in the process say the deadline is optimistic and it could take until the end of the month for a winner to emerge at the earliest.

"We are hopeful the secretary can obtain a commitment by both candidates to a timeline for completing the audit and agreeing on the details of a national unity government," said a senior State Department official who briefed reporters en route to Kabul.

NATO desperately wants Afghanistan to have a leader at the summit that was to be a crowning moment of its mission of more than a decade, and before Western combat troops withdraw at the end of 2014.

NATO

John R. Allen was a supreme allied commander Europe nominee for NATO, and is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Note: Ivo H. Daalder was a U.S. permanent representative for NATO, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Cameron F. Kerry is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and John F. Kerry’s brother.

Teresa Heinz Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and married to John F. Kerry.

John F. Kerry is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, and the secretary at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration.

Martin S. Indyk was the assistant secretary & Middle East peace envoy for the U.S. Department of State, a founding director at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a U.S. ambassador for Israel, and is a foreign policy director for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Thomas R. Pickering was a U.S. ambassador for Israel, and is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

James B. Cunningham was a U.S. ambassador for Israel, and is a U.S. ambassador for Afghanistan.