Ending months of election dispute in Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah have signed a power-sharing agreement on Sunday. The deal is virtually identical to one first proposed by the Ghani government months ago.
Under the deal, Ghani will remain president, and Abdullah will take a vice presidency post. Abdullah will also be put in charge of the intra-Afghan peace talks with the Taliban, and his supporters will be given a number of cabinet positions.
The election was disputed between Ghani and Abdullah, though polls suggested a narrow Ghani win. This happened in the previous election as well, in which the US convinced them to “share” by creating a CEO office for Abdullah.
The Taliban was concerned that without the power deal, it wasn’t clear which Afghan government they were meant to negotiate with. The US also cut Afghan aid over the lack of a deal. Now that a deal is in place, it is unlikely the US will add to the cuts.
Wonder how many Afghanis would rather write-in Malawi Hibatullah Akundzada on their ballot…