Afghanistan's Rival Presidential Contenders Are In A Last-Ditch Attempt To Save Their Power-Sharing Agreement

Afghanistan's presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah (L) addresses a news conference with rival Ashraf Ghani (R) at this side as they announced a deal for the auditing of all Afghan election votes at the United Nations Compound in Kabul, late July 12, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg

Afghan Election Contenders In Last-Ditch Bid To Rescue Power-Sharing Deal -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Afghanistan's rival presidential campaigns were holding last-ditch talks on Wednesday to rescue a deal on a national government after a disputed election raised fears of exacerbating ethnic divisions.

Presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah extended a Tuesday deadline to disengage from the political process to allow international efforts to salvage the U.S-brokered deal under which the two sides also agreed to accept the results of a U.N.-supervised vote audit, his camp said.

Abdullah, a former foreign minister who draws most of his support from the minority Tajiks and Hazara communities centered largely in the north and the center, is locked in a feud with rival candidate Ashraf Ghani, a member of Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, the Pashtuns.

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My Comment: The differences are huge .... and unless President Obama gets involved directly .... this whole process is going to collapse (if not already).