Afghanistan’s Abdullah Loses Final Vote Count, Announces He’ll Form Govt

Abdullah insists he will form an 'inclusive' government

Afghan elections since the 2001 US invasion and occupation have been uniformly such disasters that it could hardly be expected to be any other way. The oft-delayed 2019 election has finally had its final recount, and is just as inconclusive as every other vote.

The results were roughly anticipated. President Ashraf Ghani was confirmed to have won the election narrowly, and CEO Abdullah Abdullah came in second. This was roughly the same result as the last election, in which the US imposed a power-sharing deal rather than having the Afghans dig into claims of widespread fraud.

Instead of getting into allegations of fraud, Abdullah is looking to just plow forward, declaring his defeat as a victory, and insisting that he is moving ahead with plans to form an “inclusive” government despite the fairly substantial handicap of having lost the vote.

This suggests that Ghani and Abdullah, instead of a power-sharing deal, will try to form rival governments out of this election. Coming as it is in the midst of the US-Taliban peace talks, and the Taliban about to enter into talks with the Afghan government, it could be an awkward time to not be totally clear who Afghanistan’s government is.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.