KABUL: Ending nearly nine months of political wrangling over who would assume Afghanistan’s top office, President Ashraf Ghani finally signed a power-sharing deal with his key election rival, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, on Sunday amid mounting US pressure and an escalation in Taliban attacks.
“The political agreement between President Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has just been signed,” Ghani’s chief spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a tweet on Sunday.
It follows the election commission’s decision to announce Ghani as the winner in last September’s polls despite low voter turnout, attacks from the Taliban and accusations of mismanagement and fraud.
Abdullah had rejected the commission’s decision and declared himself president in March — at the same time Ghani held his inauguration ceremony and occupied several state buildings.
According to Sunday’s agreement, Abdullah will lead a council of peace talks with the Taliban, while his allies will hold positions in the Cabinet.
Details of the deal released to local media added that he will share 50 percent of the Cabinet, including key ministries, and will appoint governors as well.
Although the accord gives no executive powers to Abdullah — as was the case in a similar agreement signed with Ghani in 2014 — the future government will be a power-sharing one.
Both the leaders and their supporters had argued for power during the last administration even as the Taliban gained ground on the battlefield.
The latest accord was signed in the presidential palace in the presence of national leaders who acted as mediators after senior US officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, traveled to Kabul in March but had failed to reconcile the two sides.
At the time, Pompeo had threatened to cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan if Ghani and Abdullah failed to form a government.
Washington has played a vital role in facilitating the process, especially after signing a peace deal with the Taliban in February, part of which included the total departure of US troops from Afghanistan by next spring.
Reacting to Sunday’s agreement, Abdullah said it was not a “privilege or handout.” He said in a series of tweets: “It is rooted in the last election and every clean vote. It comes at a very difficult time when we face serious threats. We now need to come together as a nation, strive to seek solutions that are practical.”
Experts, however, have criticized the deal as being too little, too late. “After spending so much money in the election and loss of lives on voting day, they make a deal now,” analyst Shafiq Haqpal told Arab News.
“It isn’t going to change much on any level. It’s basically the distribution of positions among some families and warlords, and people are the main losers.”
