KABUL - The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kabul on Friday for talks with the two presidential candidates as both Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai claimed victory and triggered a political stalemate after the June 14 presidential election runoff.
Kerry's visit comes after Abdullah threatened to form a parallel government earlier this week. Abdullah, who came in second in the preliminary results with 43.56 percent, accused the electoral bodies of committing an "industrial-scale fraud" in favor of his rival Ghani-Ahmadzai, calling for a nationwide audit.
Secretary of State's day began with talks with the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Ján Kubiš, who proposed mechanisms on auditing polling sites and votes in a two-week time frame.
"We are at a very, very critical moment for Afghanistan," Kerry said over breakfast with Ján Kubiš. "The election legitimacy hangs in the balance. The future potential of a transition hangs in the balance, so we have a lot of work to do."
Kerry, who spent four days in October of 2009 engaged in intense talks with President Hamid Karzai and convinced him to accept a second round election, is facing a relatively similar situation, if not a further complicated one.
"I am here because President Obama and the United States of America are deeply interested in a unified, democratic and stable Afghanistan," Kerry said as he commenced conversation with Ghani-Ahmadzai. "It can be resolved [electoral stalemate] and that the way forward is to give Afghans the confidence that they have a presidency and a government that is capable of unifying all Afghans and building the road for the future...as the doctor said, no one is declaring victory at this time. The results are yet to be finalized."
Ghani-Ahmadzai in response to the introduction of their talks said that he commits to ensuring that the election process "enjoys the integrity and the legitimacy of the people of Afghanistan and the world with the lead."
"Therefore, we believe in the most intensive and extensive audit possible to restore faith," he continued. "Simultaneously from day one, when we submitted our nomination, our commitment has been to an inclusive government, a government that could represent all of the Afghans and serve every Afghan citizen in a manner that every Afghan deserves according to the constitution."
U.S. Secretary of State has two days to bring the candidates in agreement to relieve the electoral tension before his departure on Sunday.
Before Secretary Kerry's visit to Kabul, he warned that Afghanistan would lose the U.S. financial support if any group would grasp power through "extra-constitutional measures".
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with both candidates before Kerry's arrival, extending his support to push for an audit to satisfy both candidates.
It is still unclear whether Kerry can come up with an audit criterion acceptable for both Ghani-Ahmadzai and Abdullah. He is expected to meet the candidates separately on Friday and on Saturday. His envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins told a forum in Washington on Thursday that a "winner-take-all" situation is not "workable", suggesting a coalition government.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced preliminary results of the runoff presidential election Monday evening with Ghani-Ahmadzai leading with 56.44 percent. Abdullah fell behind with 43.56 percent. The IEC said the turnout was 8.1 million in the runoff.
Abdullah, who lead the first round of elections, rejected the runoff preliminary results saying that the result was invalid because it did not throw out all the fraudulent votes.
The final result of the election will be announced on July 22. (Tolonews)