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News > Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Rivals Ghani and Abdullah Sign Power-Sharing Deal

  • Now, with the deal, Afghan authorities are hoping to enter peace talks with the Taliban to end years of violence.

    Now, with the deal, Afghan authorities are hoping to enter peace talks with the Taliban to end years of violence. | Photo: AFP

Published 17 May 2020
Opinion

With the deal, Abdullah will be tasked to lead the National Reconciliation High Council for peace talks with the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed Sunday a power-sharing deal, ending months of political deadlock since the September 2019 polls.

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"We will share the burden and our shoulders, God willing, will be lighter," Ghani said at the signing ceremony, adding the day is “historic” as the agreement was reached without any international mediation.

With the deal, Abdullah will be tasked to lead the National Reconciliation High Council for peace talks with the Taliban. Also, Abdullah's group will get half of all the cabinet and other provincial governors' posts.

The agreement further says that Ghani will make Abdul Rashid Dostum, his former vice president turned ally of Abdullah, a marshal of the armed forces.

The deal comes days after a militant attack on a maternity ward in the capital, Kabul, left 24 people dead including mothers, newborn babies, and nurses.

In a similar fashing in the 2014 polls, both political leaders ended in a deadlock accusing each other of massive fraud. The U.S. arbitrated the dispute and settled in a power-sharing system that made Ghani president and Abdullah his chief executive.

On Feb. 18, Ghani was declared the winner by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission and recognized by the European Union and most international governments.  

However, his main rival Abdullah rejected the result and pledged to form his own government, also proclaiming himself the winner resulting in a stalemate that endangered the peace deal reached by the U.S. with the Taliban and further plunging the country into violence and chaos. 

The Taliban continue their attacks as last month, the insurgents walked out of the intra-Afghan talks, saying any face-to-face discussions with the Afghan government had proved "fruitless". Now, with the deal, Afghan authorities are hoping to enter peace talks with the Taliban to end years of violence.

"In the days ahead, we hope that with unity and cooperation, we would be able to first pave the ground for a ceasefire and then lasting peace,” Ghani reassured Afghans.

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