Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his longstanding rival Abdullah Abdullah have agreed to share power after months of political crisis. Abdullah would become chairman of the National Reconciliation Council – the council for peace talks with the radical Islamic Taliban – and members of his campaign team would be admitted to the cabinet. Ghani’s spokesman Sedik Sedikki wrote this today on the short message service Twitter.
Nearly eight months after the presidential election, Ghani and his electoral rival Abdullah signed the political agreement for a power split in Kabul today, government spokesman Sedikki said. Both politicians had claimed victory for themselves after the presidential election last autumn and were sworn in as heads of state in March.
The political elite was divided after the outcome of the presidential election in autumn 2019. The election commission declared Ghani the winner in February by a narrow majority, but Abdullah did not recognize the result. After Ghani’s oath of office, he too had his supporters declared him president. Ghani then rebuilt his cabinet in the presidential system and deposed Abdullah. Former government executive Abdullah had always spoken of election fraud.
Should the understanding of the two opponents now be viable, the months of political standstill that prevent steps towards peace could end.
