GHANI, ABDULLAH BOTH SWEAR IN AS AFGHAN PRESIDENT
KABUL: Afghanistan’s rival leaders were each sworn in as president in separate ceremonies on Monday, throwing plans for negotiations with the Taliban into chaos and creating a dilemma for the US as it figures out how to move its peace deal with the Taliban forward.
President Ashraf Ghani, who was declared the winner of last September’s election, and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, who charged fraud in the vote along with the elections complaints commission, have refused to settle their differences.
The two ceremonies were held at the same time, Ghani’s in the presidential palace and Abdullah’s next door in the Sapedar Palace, both packed with each rival’s supporters.
Even as Ghani was winding up his thank you speech, rocket fire could be heard. The rockets landed near the presidential palace, rattling some of those attending even as Ghani urged them to stay.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack. “Caliphate soldiers targeted the inauguration of the tyrant Ashraf Ghani”, firing 10 rockets near the presidential palace in Kabul, the jihadist group said in a statement released via its usual social media channels.
In a sign of international support for Ghani, his ceremony — aired on state TV — was attended by Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, General Austin S Miller, the head of US forces in Afghanistan, as well as a number of foreign dignitaries including the US embassy’s charge d’affaires and Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary general’s personal representative to Afghanistan.
At Abdullah’s inauguration, aired on private Tolo TV, among those present were so called “jihadi’ commanders, who were among those who allied with the US-led coalition to topple the Taliban in 2001.
Both candidates are backed by warlords with heavily armed militias, underscoring fears they could use force to back their candidate.