The protracted dispute over fraud in the Afghan election started seven weeks ago. The Abdullah campaign, fairly early on, released audiotapes claimed to show Afghan officials, including the head of the election commission, planning ballot stuffing. The authenticity of the audiotapes is not known.
John Kerry made an emergency visit to Kabul four weeks ago. He hashed out an agreement between the campaigns, that all voting would be audited under international supervision. And which also had a deal, not about auditing, but about restructuring the Afghan government to having a Prime Minister, the details of which are now in dispute.
Kerry, last week, published an editorial in Tolo News, distancing the U.S. from stronger takes on the plan coming from the Abdullah campaign. And saying that the U.S. had not cooked up a plan, in a back room with a few warlords and technocrats, to ignore the Afghan constitution, which had been cooked up by the U.S., in a back room with a few warlords and technocrats, back in 2003.
It's not for outsiders to describe the contents of the political framework both candidates accepted a few days ago. But I was there in the room, and I can tell you what is not in that one-page document.
It does not violate the Afghan constitution – it respects Afghan institutions and the role of the president as the head of government. It does not establish a parliamentary system – it creates a new position of chief executive who will report to the president until the president convenes a loya jirga to determine whether a permanent change is in the best interests of the country.
Op-Ed from Secretary Kerry
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