US secretary of state John Kerry arrives in Afghanistan to broker resolution in disputed election
US secretary of state John Kerry has arrived in Afghanistan to help broker a resolution to the country's disputed election which threatens to stir up ethnic tensions and undermine a peaceful political transition.
State department spokesman Jeff Rathke said Mr Kerry will meet with the country's two presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani as well as current president Hamid Karzai and officials from the United Nations.
The independent election commission declared Mr Ghani the winner of the second round of voting on June 14 with 56.44 per cent of the vote, a difference of almost one million votes, according to preliminary results.
The tally might change when the final official numbers are released on July 22.
Mr Abdullah, who won the first round of voting, rejected the preliminary results as a "coup" against the Afghan people, saying the result was invalid because it did not throw out all fraudulent votes.
His rejection sets the stage for a possible bloody stand-off between ethnic groups or even secession of parts of the fragile country, which is already deeply divided along tribal lines.
Worried that the country's political transition could be thrown into chaos and fearing a possible power grab, Mr Kerry rushed to Kabul from Beijing where he had spent three days attending meetings on security, political and economic issues.
After arriving, Mr Kerry boarded helicopters and travelled to the fortified US Embassy compound where he will meet Mr Abdullah, Mr Ghani and UN officials.
Mr Rathke said Mr Kerry, who has urged both presidential contenders to show leadership at such a critical stage, will press for a thorough review "of all reasonable allegations of fraud", which would entail performing significant additional audits.
"While the United States does not support an individual candidate, we do support a credible, transparent and inclusive process that affirms the Afghan people's commitment to democracy, and that produces a president who can bring Afghanistan together and govern effectively," Mr Rathke said.
United States says audits should be done before results released
The United States believes the results of the final tally in the second round of voting should not be released until the audits have been completed. Washington considers the results so far to be preliminary.
Mr Abdullah, the son of a Pashtun father and a Tajik mother, is a former anti-Taliban resistance fighter.
He draws much of his support from the Tajik minority in northern Afghanistan and is capable of drawing massive crowds.
After the announcement of the preliminary results, thousands of Mr Abdullah's supporters gathered in the capital demanding their leader form a parallel cabinet and unilaterally assert his own rule.
He has long alleged widespread fraud in the messy and protracted vote and insisted results should be delayed until all problematic poll stations have been audited.
Mr Ghani, for his part, has strong support from Pashtun tribes in the south and east. In the southern city of Kandahar, hundreds of people took to the streets late on Monday to celebrate.
The deadlock over the vote has quashed hopes for a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan, a concern for the West as most US-led forces withdraw from the country this year.
Earlier this week Mr Kerry warned any effort to resolve the dispute through violence or "extra-constitutional means" would cause the United States to withdraw assistance to Afghanistan.
While the US is drawing down its military presence in Afghanistan, it provides billions of dollars in aid, which helps to fund the operations of the Afghan government.
A senior state department official warned that if Washington withdrew support, other donors would likely follow, which would have a significant impact on the Afghan government's ability to succeed going forward.
"This is extraordinarily in the interest of Afghanistan to get this resolved. Both sides have expressed to the secretary that they want to get to an outcome that is credible, transparent and accepting," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"While we're not coming to impose a solution, but to sort of facilitate that, it is in their interest and expressed desire to get there. We're not asking them to do something they don't want themselves."
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