US state secretary John Kerry convinced Afghanistan's feuding presidential candidates on Saturday to agree to a total recount of last month's presidential election, which has threatened to split the country along ethnic lines.

   

After two days of intense talks between Kerry, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, all parties agreed that the best way out of the acrimonious and protracted deadlock was to delay the inauguration and recount all the ballots from scratch.

Preliminary results from the run-off vote on June 14 put Ghani, a former World Bank official, well ahead but Abdullah rejected the result, claiming widespread fraud and calling the outcome a "coup" against the Afghan people.

In a joint news conference with Kerry held just before midnight, the two rivals agreed to abide by the outcome of a UN-supervised recount.

"Both candidates have committed to participate in and abide by the results of the largest and most comprehensive audit," Kerry said. "Every single ballot that was cast will be audited... This is the strongest possible signal by both candidates of the desire to restore legitimacy to the process."The recount was scheduled to begin within 24 hours, but was likely to take several weeks, meaning that a presidential inauguration scheduled for Aug. 2 will have to be postponed.

The dispute has raised concerns about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan just as U.S.-led troops are leaving after 12 years of fighting the Taliban.

The stakes are high for the United States. Washington hopes to settle the dispute quickly so it can sign a security pact with Afghanistan allowing a contingent of US troops to stay in the country beyond this year.

Unlike incumbent Hamid Karzai, both Abdullah and Ghani have both promised to sign the deal promptly, but the standoff over the vote has delayed the process.

After his own talks with Kerry, Karzai said he welcomed the initiative and hoped the full audit would start quickly:

"The people of Afghanistan have been patient and they are in a hurry and would like to hear as soon as possible the result of the election and witness their next president."

Abdullah's support is mainly in the north, among the Tajik minority, while Ghani is supported by Pashtun tribes in the east and south.

Observers have warned that if the dispute is not resolved quickly, Afghanistan could split along ethnic lines, with further violence likely.

What next?
Karzai, catapulted to the presidency 12 years ago by Western powers after the ousting of the Taliban, is expected to retain influence after stepping down, and Abdullah has accused him of rigging the vote in favour of Ghani.

Abdullah and Ghani had not met in person since the vote but Kerry managed to bring them together at a UN compound in central Kabul to give a joint news conference.

"This audit will be conducted in accordance with the highest international standards," said Kerry, flanked by both candidates. As he announced the total recount, many in the audience gasped.

"The auditing will be internationally supervised in a manner proposed by the UN assistance mission; the candidates' campaigns will each provide joint oversight of the audit."

In a show of unity after months of bitter bickering, Ghani kissed Abdullah on the cheek after addressing reporters.

"Since we have agreed to a 100 percent audit of ballots, I request from President Karzai to postpone inauguration of a new government," Abdullah said.

In comments to reporters on Friday, Kerry said Afghanistan's transition to a self-reliant state hung in the balance unless the legitimacy of the election could be restored.

Washington has warned of repercussions if either side declares victory and tries to grab power illegitimately.

The United States is in the process of withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting Taliban insurgents, but the country remains dependent on foreign aid, principally from Washington, its biggest foreign donor.

“If Abdullah goes for it and declares himself president, forget it, this is over,” said a former Afghan official who remains close to many of Afghanistan’s top security officials. “Fighting the Taliban won’t even be an issue because who is going to do it? The army will be split. So will the police.”

Overshadowed by the events in Iraq, the swift deterioration of the political situation here has, in a matter of weeks, moved Afghanistan dangerously close to a situation far worse than that envisioned as likely by many American and Afghan officials before the election. Some Western officials have begun to warn that the crisis poses a greater immediate threat to the Afghan government than the Taliban.

The prospect that Mr. Abdullah, who has the support of many powerful former warlords, might try to seize control prompted American and European officials to threaten in recent days that foreign troops could be pulled out and billions of dollars in essential aid lost if the crisis was not peacefully resolved.

It also spurred the Obama administration this week to begin moving off its long-held position that the election was an issue for Afghans to work out among themselves: President Obama called both candidates, and Mr. Kerry added a stop to Afghanistan on a trip he was making to Asia.

American officials said Friday that standing on the sidelines risked the possible fracturing of a government the United States had spent billions to build and sacrificed thousands of troops to defend. Current and former Afghan officials concurred, stressing that a solution was still possible, but that time was running out.

Adding to the complications faced by Mr. Kerry, salvaging the Afghan election means working with the person the Obama administration is most eager to see gone: Mr. Karzai.

The Afghan leader remains powerful even as a lame duck, and his support is crucial to any deal that could end the crisis. Although Mr. Karzai has sought to remain publicly above the fray, Afghan officials close to him have said he has shaped the election process in favor of Mr. Ghani, a longtime adviser and former finance minister who held a commanding lead in preliminary results released on Monday.

The Abdullah campaign has accused Mr. Karzai of rigging the election, a charge he denies.

Mr. Kerry is one of the few American officials with whom Mr. Karzai still enjoys a relatively warm relationship. Yet it is tainted by Mr. Karzai’s bitterness over the last presidential election, in 2009, during which he believes the United States tried to engineer his removal. That vote was similarly riddled with fraud, and it was Mr. Kerry who persuaded Mr. Karzai to agree to a runoff that year, which the Afghan leader saw as a humiliation.

Mr. Karzai’s challenger in 2009 was Mr. Abdullah, a former foreign minister who eventually dropped out of the race. And though American mediation averted a crisis at the time, it left both Mr. Karzai and Mr. Abdullah mistrustful of the United States.

Overcoming those sentiments is necessary for Mr. Kerry to have any chance of brokering an end to the crisis. But the United States has far less leverage than it did in 2009. After years of watching American officials fold after being rebuffed by Mr. Karzai, few here give much credence to American threats to pull out troops and cut aid. And each successive crisis over election fraud — this year’s is the third in five years, including the parliamentary elections in 2010 — has diminished the faith of many Afghans in the government erected by the United States.

“The Americans have been here for 13 years, and what is the result? This system is a mess,” said Noor Azizi, 24, a marketing officer who was among about 40 protesters, some of them in a human chain blocking the entrance to Kabul’s airport on Friday.

Another protester, Mustafa Sattari, a doctoral student, said, “We want the international community to take action, and we want real democracy.”

“If Abdullah goes for it and declares himself president, forget it, this is over,” said a former Afghan official who remains close to many of Afghanistan’s top security officials. “Fighting the Taliban won’t even be an issue because who is going to do it? The army will be split. So will the police.”

Overshadowed by the events in Iraq, the swift deterioration of the political situation here has, in a matter of weeks, moved Afghanistan dangerously close to a situation far worse than that envisioned as likely by many American and Afghan officials before the election. Some Western officials have begun to warn that the crisis poses a greater immediate threat to the Afghan government than the Taliban.

The prospect that Mr. Abdullah, who has the support of many powerful former warlords, might try to seize control prompted American and European officials to threaten in recent days that foreign troops could be pulled out and billions of dollars in essential aid lost if the crisis was not peacefully resolved.

It also spurred the Obama administration this week to begin moving off its long-held position that the election was an issue for Afghans to work out among themselves: President Obama called both candidates, and Mr. Kerry added a stop to Afghanistan on a trip he was making to Asia.

American officials said Friday that standing on the sidelines risked the possible fracturing of a government the United States had spent billions to build and sacrificed thousands of troops to defend. Current and former Afghan officials concurred, stressing that a solution was still possible, but that time was running out.

Adding to the complications faced by Mr. Kerry, salvaging the Afghan election means working with the person the Obama administration is most eager to see gone: Mr. Karzai.

The Afghan leader remains powerful even as a lame duck, and his support is crucial to any deal that could end the crisis. Although Mr. Karzai has sought to remain publicly above the fray, Afghan officials close to him have said he has shaped the election process in favor of Mr. Ghani, a longtime adviser and former finance minister who held a commanding lead in preliminary results released on Monday.

The Abdullah campaign has accused Mr. Karzai of rigging the election, a charge he denies.

Mr. Kerry is one of the few American officials with whom Mr. Karzai still enjoys a relatively warm relationship. Yet it is tainted by Mr. Karzai’s bitterness over the last presidential election, in 2009, during which he believes the United States tried to engineer his removal. That vote was similarly riddled with fraud, and it was Mr. Kerry who persuaded Mr. Karzai to agree to a runoff that year, which the Afghan leader saw as a humiliation.

Mr. Karzai’s challenger in 2009 was Mr. Abdullah, a former foreign minister who eventually dropped out of the race. And though American mediation averted a crisis at the time, it left both Mr. Karzai and Mr. Abdullah mistrustful of the United States.

Overcoming those sentiments is necessary for Mr. Kerry to have any chance of brokering an end to the crisis. But the United States has far less leverage than it did in 2009. After years of watching American officials fold after being rebuffed by Mr. Karzai, few here give much credence to American threats to pull out troops and cut aid. And each successive crisis over election fraud — this year’s is the third in five years, including the parliamentary elections in 2010 — has diminished the faith of many Afghans in the government erected by the United States.

  “The Americans have been here for 13 years, and what is the result? This system is a mess,” said Noor Azizi, 24, a marketing officer who was among about 40 protesters, some of them in a human chain blocking the entrance to Kabul’s airport on Friday.

Another protester, Mustafa Sattari, a doctoral student, said, “We want the international community to take action, and we want real democracy.”

Mr. Kerry met separately on Friday with Mr. Karzai, Mr. Abdullah and Mr. Ghani. The focus was on the technical aspects of the election process, specifically on seeking an audit of votes suspected to be fraudulent, an issue at the center of the deadlock.

A senior aide to Mr. Abdullah said the candidate left his meeting with the sense he had finally gotten a fair hearing after weeks of being told by Western officials to respect a process that he believes is irredeemably tainted in Mr. Ghani’s favor.

Mr. Kerry “listened to our proposals, and his reaction was, ‘These make sense,’ ” said the aide, who had spoken with Mr. Abdullah about the meeting.

“I found him more optimistic,” the aide said of Mr. Abdullah. “Cautious, but not without hope.”

Supporters of Mr. Ghani were similarly positive after he met with Mr. Kerry. Daud Sultanzoy, a former presidential candidate who joined Mr. Ghani’s campaign in April, insisted that his candidate had won and that he had discussed ways of forming as inclusive a government as possible.

But Mr. Sultanzoy said Mr. Ghani had reiterated to Mr. Kerry his opposition to a unity government with Mr. Abdullah, who has also said he is not interested in such an arrangement.

Despite the relative optimism, the gap between the candidates remained wide after Friday’s meetings.

Mr. Kerry, in comments to reporters on Friday morning, seemed aware of the tough challenge he faced, cautioning that there was no guarantee of success.

“The future potential of a transition hangs in the balance, so we have a lot of work to do,” he said before a meeting with Jan Kubis, the special United Nations envoy for Afghanistan.

The election crisis began almost as soon as voting ended in the June 14 runoff, with the Abdullah campaign alleging large-scale fraud that benefited Mr. Ghani. Mr. Ghani’s camp has accused Mr. Abdullah’s supporters of fraud, but with officials saying that Mr. Ghani is ahead, it has been far less vociferous.

At the start of the week, the two sides were talking about an audit that would be acceptable to both. Then Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission announced preliminary results that appeared to confirm what Afghan officials had been privately saying: Mr. Ghani was leading by roughly one million votes.

The announcement was made over the objections of the Abdullah campaign and Western officials, and the lopsided results helped breathe new life into the crisis, cutting off direct talks between the candidates.

The development also led powerful Abdullah supporters to start calling for him to seize power.

Mr. Abdullah “is in a very difficult position,” said the senior aide, who asked not to be identified so he could discuss internal campaign deliberations. “He has been under a lot of pressure from people who are saying you don’t have to trust the U.N., you don’t have to trust the U.S., remember what happened in the past.”

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