washingtonpost.com
Blasts disrupt Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s swearing-in ceremony amid a deepening political crisis
Susannah George
4 minutes
KABUL — An attack disrupted Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's inauguration Monday amid a deepening political crisis that threatens to undermine the future of peace talks with the Taliban.
Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, both held swearing-in ceremonies Monday after weeks of mediation efforts between the two men failed. Afghanistan's election commission named Ghani the winner of the September presidential contest, with just enough of the vote to
avoid a second round, but Abdullah declared the results fraudulent and claimed victory.
The spectacle of dueling inaugurations held just yards apart at separate compounds reflects worsening divisions among Afghanistan's political elite as the country prepares to enter talks with the Taliban. A
peace deal signed between the militants and the United States called for intra-Afghan talks to begin Tuesday. It is unclear whether that benchmark will be met.
Mediation efforts were held late into the night Sunday and continued until just moments before the ceremonies. U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who brokered the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, shuttled between the two camps in an attempt to find a compromise.
Ghani was promising to rid the system of "the evil of corruption and bureaucracy" Monday as the first blast shook the presidential palace. He continued speaking through the gunfire and blasts that followed, pledging to increase revenue in the private sector and calling on the crowd to remain calm.
"We have seen major attacks. Don't be afraid by two small blasts," he said before being escorted from the scene by his security detail.
Four rockets landed near the inauguration grounds, said Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry. He said that one policeman received superficial injuries, and that no one was killed. The Islamic State
claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack occurred despite security forces taking measures to protect the ceremony. Monday was declared a national holiday in Kabul, miles of roads were closed to civilian traffic around the inauguration site and residents were encouraged to stay indoors.
In the days leading up to the inaugurations, Abdullah was offered ministerial-level positions in Ghani's government but demanded the creation of the role of prime minister, said Omid Maisam, his spokesman. The move would have effectively created a second power-sharing government.
Ghani and Abudllah have led a power-sharing government for the past five years. The arrangement was brokered by Washington after a disputed presidential race in 2014 brought the country to the brink of civil war. Both leaders blamed the arrangement for their limited political accomplishments.
The United States and other key Afghan allies have urged the country’s leaders to prioritize peace efforts.
“It is time to focus not on electoral politics, but on taking steps toward a lasting peace [and] ending the war with the Taliban,” Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman,
said in a statement last month.
Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are expected to be longer and more complex than U.S.-Taliban talks, which focused largely on the withdrawal of U.S. forces and security guarantees. The U.S. deal did not state whether Afghanistan would
remain a democracy, the future of civil liberties or the makeup of any post-peace national security force.
Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report.
