Rivals to keep ruling together

KABUL — Afghanistan’s unity government is expected to remain in place despite the formal expiration on Thursday of the U.S.-brokered deal between two electoral rivals whose internal feuding has undermined efforts to battle the Taliban and stabilize the country.

The deal was negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry in 2014 after elections in which Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory. The deal made Ghani president, and Abdullah reluctantly accepted the secondary role of chief executive.

It obliged the two to govern together for two years, during which time electoral reforms and electronic national identity cards would be introduced and parliamentary and district elections held. The deal also included the convening of a Loya Jirga — or grand council of community and religious leaders — to potentially approve the creation of a prime minister’s post, which would be filled by Abdullah.

None of the commitments has been met.

But during a visit to Kabul earlier this year, Kerry declared the unity government deal openended, despite it setting a 2015 deadline for parliamentary elections and specifying the Loya Jirga be held within two years.

In the two years since the deal was reached, the unity government has grappled with an increasingly potent Taliban insurgency as well as widespread corruption and economic malaise. Its failure to address those issues has been widely blamed on the internal rivalry.