Kerry in Afghanistan to meet feuding candidates
Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
Publication Date | 7 August 2014 |
Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kerry in Afghanistan to meet feuding candidates, 7 August 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/54003ead5.html [accessed 1 June 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
August 07, 2014
Afghan election-commission workers move ballot boxes to a truck for delivery to Kabul for an audit of the presidential runoff votes in the western Herat Province last month.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to try to calm tensions between the country's two feuding presidential candidates.
Shortly after arriving in Kabul on August 7, Kerry held separate meetings with Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.
The two remain locked in a bitter dispute over the results of the June 14 presidential election runoff.
Abdullah says massive fraud tilted the results of a preliminary count vote in favor of Ghani.
All eight million ballots cast in the election are currently being recounted in a UN-supervised process that Kerry brokered last month.
Kerry is expected to meet again with each of the candidates on August 9, and separately with President Hamid Karzai before heading to Myanmar for an Asian security conference.
In a statement issued by his office on August 7, Karzai said final results of the election must be announced this month, as agreed.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
Link to original story on RFE/RL website