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Afghan president Ashraf Ghani inaugurated after bitter campaign Afghan president Ashraf Ghani inaugurated after bitter campaign
(about 5 hours later)
Incoming Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has been inaugurated following a long and contentious election campaign, in the first transition of power since Hamid Karzai became president after the 2001 US-led invasion. After an exhausting and contentious election process, Ashraf Ghani, a US-educated anthropologist-turned-reformist politician, has finally been sworn in as president of Afghanistan in the first peaceful transfer of power since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Ghani entered the presidential palace for the ceremony wearing a dark black turban popular in the country’s south. His electoral challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the newly created position of chief executive, sat two seats away, with Karzai anchoring the spot in between. “I am no better than you,” Ghani told an audience of 1,400 guests, including approximately 200 foreign dignitaries at the Arg, the presidential palace. “If I do something the proper way, support me. If I do something wrong, guide me,” he continued, quoting Abu Bakr, Sunni Islam’s first caliph.
Karzai – the only president Afghans and the west has known since the invasion – greeted his presidential guards upon entering the palace. Ghani has signalled that his presidency will mark a new beginning. The new president will lead Afghanistan through a difficult transition as international forces prepare to withdraw. And as a first step, Ghani has pledged to do what his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, refused, and sign a deal on Tuesday to secure a continuation of international military assistance to Afghanistan after 2014.
The inauguration caps a nearly six-month election season that began when ballots were first cast in April. A runoff election in June between Ghani and Abdullah stretched on for weeks as both sides levelled charges of fraud. The United Nations helped carry out what it said was the most thorough recount in its history, a count that reduced Ghani’s vote percentage from 56% to 55%, but still gave him the win. The Afghan security forces can protect Afghanistan, Ghani said at the ceremony. “But we need assistance from the international community.”
But the real power struggle was taking place in marathon talks between the two sides, often brokered by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and other US officials. The political deal the sides agreed to created the new position of chief executive that Abdullah will now fill. On inauguration day, security in Kabul was suffocating. Low-flying helicopters circled the city and roadblocks gridlocked traffic. Yet, despite all precautions, an insurgent killed four Afghan troops and wounded three civilians in a suicide attack near Kabul airport, according to the interior ministry.
American officials have said they expect Ghani to sign a security agreement with the US shortly after his inauguration to allow about 10,000 American troops to stay in the country after the international combat mission ends on 31 December. For Ghani, the inauguration caps a long journey through a remarkable academic spell in the United States, a decade working for the World Bank and several stints in important administrative posts in the Karzai government, during which he says his mind was always on how to reconstruct Afghanistan. He has declared that his first reforms will aim to improve the rule of law and fight corruption.
Meanwhile, violence continued Monday in Afghanistan. In the eastern province of Paktia, a car bomb exploded near a government compound as gunmen attacked, sparking a gun battle that killed seven Taliban militants, according to police official Capt Mohammed Hekhlas. Another police official, who gave his name as Azimullah, said four officers and two civilians also were killed. “We will not tolerate administrative corruption in national institutions,” he said to loud applause.
In Kabul, where the city is preparing for the presidential inauguration, a roadside bomb exploded on the airport road. Officials said no one was killed or injured. “For Afghanistan to develop further, it needs to build its economy, and it can only do this by addressing corruption, increasing revenue, and helping investors, both Afghan and international, feel secure,” said Richard Stagg, the British Ambassador to Kabul, who attended the inauguration.
However, Ghani, who is a vocal critic of how international aid is delivered, stressed that the international community needed to “rethink its strategies” as well.
In an rare emotional moment, Ghani choked up as he thanked his wife, Rula, who has been by his side at many campaign rallies. Acknowledgement of your wife, let alone promising the public that she will have influence, is almost unheard of in Afghan politics. Ghani also embraced his election opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, with whom he has agreed to form a government of national unity.
In his last speech as the country’s leader, the outgoing president hailed Ghani’s victory as the first peaceful and democratic transition in Afghan history. Karzai also struck a conciliatory tone with the international community, thanking it for its long support.
There was, however, some bitterness amid the festivities. Even after an internationally monitored ballot audit, ambiguity over the result still lingers. European and American officials have said the control process was less rigorous than they had hoped for, a complaint echoed repeatedly by Abdullah’s team.
Until the last minute, Abdullah himself threatened to boycott the inauguration, reportedly unhappy with the election commission’s decision to print the final vote count on Ghani’s winner’s certificate, despite an agreement to keep the tally secret.
While this seemingly small dispute was eventually resolved, the knee-jerk boycott threat does not bode well for the government’s ability to cooperate in the future.
“Prior to today we had at least one person who could be an intermediary, and that was President Karzai. But after today it is just up to Dr Ghani and Dr Abdullah,” said Haroun Mir, a political analyst in Kabul. “Nobody is enthusiastic about this national unity government.”
The coalition idea is also unpopular with some Afghan voters, who believe the backroom haggling leading up to the deal was undemocratic.
“The nation doesn’t know what the candidates did behind the curtain,” said Ahmad Basir Ahmadi, 48, an electronics engineer.
The longevity of the government now depends on whom Ghani takes with him to the palace, said Mir. If his key aides are willing to compromise, reforms can be successful. If they are not, the government could break apart quickly, Mir said.