KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's rival candidates for president signed an agreement Sunday forming a unity government with former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as president, ending a months-long standoff over a disputed runoff vote.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's election commission also pronounced Ahmadzai the winner of the election, but it withheld an announcement of the total votes won, despite a costly audit process overseen by the United Nations and financed by the U.S. government.
The agreement was a victory for the Obama administration, which had cajoled Ahmadzai and rival Abdullah Abdullah to accept the U.S.-backed compromise after more than two months of difficult negotiations and an intense diplomatic effort by Secretary of State John Kerry.
A nation long tired of election bluffs and threats seemed to accept the electoral deal with a shrug. There were no mass celebrations in the streets of Kabul, and Afghan journalists reacted angrily when the election commission declined to release final results, abruptly ending a brief news conference without taking questions.
On Sunday, the two candidates met at the Presidential Palace with outgoing President Hamid Karzai and their supporters, quickly signed their two copies of the four-page agreement and then briefly hugged each other, to tepid applause from the audience.
In a brief speech, Karzai thanked them, and then the event was over in 10 minutes -- in sharp contrast to the protracted election process that began in February, ran through two elections and a long and controversial audit, which the U.N. called the most exhaustive it had ever overseen.
The agreement calls for Ahmadzai -- who was deemed the winner of the controversial runoff after an audit of votes supervised by the U.N. -- to become the president and share substantial powers with a newly created prime minister-type position. That post, called chief executive officer, would represent Abdullah's campaign, but it was not immediately clear whether Abdullah would occupy the post.
The candidates haggled over the details until Friday, ending in a delicate compromise of questionable durability. After alleging a conspiracy to rig the June 14 runoff vote in Ahmadzai's favor, Abdullah withdrew from the audit process while his supporters briefly floated the possibility of creating a parallel government that U.S. officials worried could further destabilize the country.
On Saturday, Abdullah's aides had said he would refuse to agree to the deal unless the vote totals were kept secret, since he regards the election as heavily tainted by fraud.
Thus, at a short news conference in Kabul, Yousuf Nuristani, chairman of the Independent Election Commission, simply named Ahmadzai the winner, wishing the government "great success" but fielding no questions.
Deal sets precedent
The United States applauded the candidates' deal and the White House said that "respect for the democratic process" is the only viable path forward for Afghanistan. But to many in Kabul, the next Afghan government appeared to be more a product of negotiation than vote tallies, especially given the fact a final count wasn't released.
"I don't think anyone will vote again," said Masie Hajizada, a 26-year-old businessman. "They will have to do a lot of campaigning to get us to vote."
Nader Nadery, chairman of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, agreed: "Many people risked their lives to vote, some lost their lives, and this is a very bad precedent; to persuade people to come back and vote again will be very hard."
Halim Fadai, who was in charge of the observer team for Ahmadzai, denounced the commission's suppression of the vote totals.
"The international community gives out democracy slogans while putting nails in the coffin of democracy of Afghanistan," Fadai said.
But a U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the result "absolutely" could be called democratic and that "the process was in accordance to the electoral law."
Kerry lauded the two leaders, saying the agreement helps bring closure to Afghanistan's political crisis.
"Americans know very well that the road to democracy is contentious and challenging, but it's a road that leads to the best place. It doesn't happen overnight. We've had our own contentious elections and witnessed their aftermath," Kerry said in a statement. "But if my recent visits to Kabul and the hours upon hours on the phone with these two men have taught me anything, it's how invested Afghanistan is in this historic effort."
The White House congratulated Ahmadzai and Abdullah, saying the election agreement "helps bring closure to Afghanistan's political crisis, and restores confidence in the way forward."
According to the candidates' agreement, the chief executive, to be nominated by the election runner-up, "will be answerable to the president," manage the implementation of government policies, help select certain non-Cabinet posts and lead weekly meetings of the heads of government ministries.
But the president remains head of state and government, and does not lose any constitutional powers.
The chief executive will be announced by the president on the inauguration date, which Abdullah spokesman Fazel Sancharaki said was expected to take place next Monday.
After Abdullah's campaign alleged widespread fraud in the runoff vote, Kerry flew to Kabul in July and got the candidates to agree in principle to form a unity government and endorse a U.N.-supervised audit of all 8 million votes cast.
Ahmadzai, who secured less than 3 percent of the vote in 2009, was believed to have the lead in the final tally over Abdullah, the former foreign minister who led after the initial election on April 5.
Preliminary runoff results gave Ahmadzai a lead of about 1 million votes out of 8 million cast, a dramatic turnaround from the first round of balloting in which he finished a distant second to Abdullah. Abdullah released audio recordings that he claimed showed election officials conspiring to rig votes in Ahmadzai's favor.
Ahmadzai repeatedly denied the allegations of fraud. One senior election official resigned over the allegations but denied wrongdoing.
U.S. officials had been deeply worried that the election dispute could destabilize Afghanistan and threaten a bilateral security agreement that would allow for as many as 10,000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led NATO coalition's mandate expires at the end of December. Ahmadzai has said signing the pact would be one of his first acts as president.
The agreement will provide for continued funding and training of more than 350,000 Afghan soldiers and police. U.S. military officials say the training mission is necessary, particularly as Taliban insurgents launch new attacks throughout Afghanistan, including in the southern province of Helmand, where hundreds of Afghan soldiers and police have been killed in recent months of fighting.
Information for this article was contributed by Ali M. Latifi and Shashank Bengali of the Los Angeles Times; by Rod Nordland, Jawad Sukhanyar, Ahmad Shakib and Fazal Muzhary of The New York Times; and by Jason Straziuso and Rahim Faiez of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/22/2014