GHANI, ABDULLAH BOTH SWEAR IN AS AFGHAN PRESIDENT
‘US TROOPS BEGIN PULL-OUT AS PER DEAL’
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.
WASHINGTON: American troops have begun leaving Afghanistan for the initial troop withdrawal required in the US-Taliban peace agreement, a US official said on Monday, amid political chaos in Kabul that threatens the deal. Hundreds of troops are heading out of the country as previously planned, but they will not be replaced as the US moves ahead with plans to cut the number of forces in the country from about 13,000 to 8,600, the official said. The official spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss the movement ahead of a public announcement. Under the peace deal, the US troop withdrawal had to begin within 10 days after the agreement was signed on February 29.