KABUL – Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, today, July 11, to meet with Afghan leaders including presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani and President Hamid Karzai.
The Secretary will discuss the ongoing political transition, reinforcing President Obama’s message that the U.S. expects a thorough review of all reasonable allegations of fraud and that it will not accept any extra-constitutional measures.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department said that while the United States does not support an individual candidate, “we do support a credible, transparent, and inclusive process that affirms the Afghan people’s commitment to democracy, and that produces a president who can bring Afghanistan together and govern effectively.”
Earlier this week, Afghans rallied in the Afghan capitol city of Kabul for the formation of a parallel government after a favorite presidential candidate lost a run-off election, leading to a stern warning from the United States.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry warned on Tuesday that US financial support would withdraw financial and security support from Afghanistan if any action is undertaken to seize power by extra-legal means in the wake of the election of Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official. In strongly-contested election results, Ghani surpassed Abdullah Abdullah, who has claimed the vote was rigged.
.@JohnKerry spoke with Afghan security officials in #Kabul today. Their public remarks: http://t.co/lWmBObeGMa pic.twitter.com/n96KUhX28i
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 11, 2014
[poll random]
They can keep Kerry too.
@maybe-that will fix them.
If thats called a mess over there then we have a disaster here.
Word is Kerry is going to help President Hamid Karzai avoid the Afghan version of being swift-boated.