Iran Press/ Iran News: Abdullah reported a tentative agreement was reached, and the details will be made public soon.
Ghani, who the polls showed was a narrow victor, had proposed a compromise in which he’d be president, Abdullah would be a Vice President and be in charge of peace talks with the Taliban. It’s not clear that’s the framework of the new deal.
Reports, however, do say that the agreement is focused both on trying to get ready for Taliban talks and to unify the political power blocs to get ready for a coronavirus pandemic that is picking up pace inside Afghanistan.
This comes as tensions remain high on political level following the controversial announcement of presidential election results in February – which announced Ghani as the winner – and parallel presidential inaugurations by both Ghani and Abdullah.
The US punished Afghanistan with a $1 billion aid cut over the indecisive election, which officials said was against American interests. It is unlikely that will be restored, but if a deal holds it may allow them to avoid a similar cut threatened for 2021.
Political tensions between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah began when the Afghan election committee declared Ashraf Ghani the winner of the recent election, but Abdullah Abdullah called himself president and the two Afghan officials, who both claim they won the presidential election, held their inauguration ceremonies at two palaces in Kabul.
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