Post-vote crisis may undo progress in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — A defiant Abdullah Abdullah asserted Tuesday that he had won Afghanistan’s bitterly disputed presidential election as outraged supporters threatened to back a breakaway government, raising the specter of a prolonged and perhaps bloody political crisis.
A day after preliminary results gave a commanding lead to Abdullah’s rival, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, U.S. officials were scrambling to salvage the legitimacy of an election the Obama administration hoped would usher in a stable, post-American era in Afghanistan but has instead become tainted by fraud accusations.
“We are the winner of the elections with no doubt,” Abdullah, a longtime opposition figure, told supporters at a rally in Kabul. “We are not allowing a fraudulent government in this country even for one day.”
A few hours later, Ahmadzai struck a measured tone, saying “our votes are clean.” He said he welcomed an audit of several thousand ballot boxes to be undertaken in the next two weeks, but the Afghan election bodies already suffer from a major credibility gap, and Western officials were worried neither candidate would accept defeat.
Secretary of State John Kerry was reportedly heading to Kabul later in the week in an attempt to help resolve the standoff.
Among Obama administration officials, there was growing concern the crisis could undo democratic strides Afghanistan has made in the 13 years since U.S. forces invaded and toppled the Taliban regime. Until fraud allegations surfaced in recent weeks, the election had been hailed as largely peaceful.
Kerry issued a statement late Monday expressing “grave concern” at reports that a breakaway government could be formed. He urged Afghan election officials to investigate fraud allegations thoroughly but warned any bid to subvert the process could result in a cutoff of U.S. and foreign aid, which provides nearly all of the government’s operating funds.
“We call on all Afghan leaders to maintain calm in order to preserve the gains of the last decade and maintain the trust of the Afghan people,” Kerry said. “Any action to take power by extra-legal means will cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the United States and the international community.”
Amid the uncertainty, violence blamed on the Taliban has intensified. Earlier Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed 16 people, including Afghan schoolchildren and four Czech soldiers, in eastern Afghanistan’s Parwan province. The U.S.-led military coalition confirmed that four of its personnel were killed in an attack but gave no details.