The ceremony at the presidential palace in Kabul, still occupied by outgoing leader Hamid Karzai, was broadcast live on television. Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said Ghani is expected to be sworn in as president within a week.
He said one of Ghani's first acts would be to sign a long-delayed bilateral security agreement with the United States to allow a small force of foreign troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014. The deal was signed on the same day that the final results from a recount are to be announced. Preliminary results released in July showed Ghani ahead of ex-foreign minister Abdullah with 56 percent of the vote. The early results prompted street protests from supporters of Abdullah, who charged massive fraud and said he was the rightful winner. Final results have been delayed for weeks by a UN-monitored audit of all eight million ballots cast in the June 14 runoff vote between Ghani and Abdullah, the top finishers of the first round in April. Reporting from Kabul, Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse said that the political crisis had stagnated the economy and that Afghans are likely to welcome the news of the deal. Source: Agencies
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Thank you for choosing to make a difference through your donation. We appreciate your support.
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesCategories
All
Archives
April 2024
|