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 | Daily News Brief September 22, 2014 |
Top of the Agenda
Afghan Presidential Candidates Sign Power-Sharing Deal
After
two rounds elections and more than three months of political deadlock,
Afghanistan's presidential candidates signed an agreement brokered by
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, forming a national unity government (NYT). Ashraf Ghani will become president and make major policies, while runner-up Abdullah Abdullah or his nominee will be the country's chief executive with the responsibility of implementing policy (TOLO).
The deal is welcomed in hopes that it will bring an end to the turmoil
that has shaken the country following increased Taliban attacks,
economic troubles, and allegations of fraudulent elections (Reuters). President-elect Ghani announced on Monday that he plans to name a woman to the country's highest court (AP).
Analysis
"On paper, given the distrust between the two [candidates], the deal may look fragile and unworkable. But the pair has little choice than to make it succeed.
An ethnically-divided country with parallel governments is a form of
mutually-assured destruction, particularly given the country's
dependence on foreign money that will be impossible to source if this
new government falls," writes the Economist.
"Even
if both candidates reach an agreement to form a unity government, and
even if they are able to define the responsibilities and authorities of a
new Chief Executive, the arrangement is likely to break down in practice
as trust between the two sides has disappeared. It is difficult to see
how the parties that have failed to agree to a power-sharing agreement
for two months, despite intense pressure to do so, will be able to
effectively share power," writes Shahmahmood Miakhelin Foreign Policy.
"At
the end of the day, the millions of Afghan voters who defied Taliban
threats to cast ballots are now left wondering if their votes counted.
Mr. Ghani's presidency was not, by any reasonable measure, the result of
a fair and credible election. Even so, Secretary of State John Kerry
and his team in Kabul deserve recognition for formulating a power-sharing plan that gave the Afghans a way out of a crisis that could easily have plunged the country into a disastrous cycle of violence," writes the New York Times.
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