KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. President Barack Obama's administration on Thursday stepped up efforts to press Afghanistan's two feuding presidential candidates to end their dispute over June elections, accept the results of an ongoing audit of all ballots and form a national unity government by early next month.
On an unannounced visit to Kabul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made personal appeals to both candidates -- former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai -- to understand the urgency of finding a resolution before the NATO summit in Wales on Sept. 4, officials traveling with Kerry said.
At that meeting, NATO leaders are hoping to make decisions about their nations' roles in Afghanistan after the end of the year, when most combat troops will be withdrawn. Both candidates have pledged to sign a bilateral security agreement with the U.S. that would give legal protections to residual American forces, but Washington would like the pact in place as soon as possible.
Officials with Kerry said the summit would be an opportunity for the eventual election winner to present himself to the alliance and introduce his new Cabinet, which, under a formula brokered by Kerry on his last visit to Kabul in June, would include the election loser appointing a new "chief executive officer" who would serve under the president.
Once created, the Afghan government would convene a loya jirga, or nationwide assembly, to formalize the chief executive post as a prime minister, the plan envisions.
The election results are being audited in a process that had halted to mark the end the of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in late July. The audit resumed earlier this week with representatives of both candidates participating but still at odds over charges of widespread election fraud in the June 14 runoff. Preliminary results of the poll showed Ahmadzai well ahead of Abdullah, but both sides alleged fraud.
Kerry, who will see President Hamid Karzai today before he leaves Afghanistan for an Asian security conference in Burma, met separately with Ahmadzai and Abdullah at the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy compound in Kabul. No details of the discussions were immediately available. He will meet with the candidates again today.
Kerry's arrival in Kabul came after Tuesday's killing of U.S. Maj. Gen. Harold Greene by an Afghan soldier at the national defense university, an attack that underscored the tensions that persist as the U.S. combat role winds down.
Since his last visit, Kerry has stressed the urgency of accelerating the election audit and implementing the security agreement with the U.S.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the murder of the general would not affect "our decision or resolve to continue moving forward on an enduring presence post-2014."
A Section on 08/08/2014