Afghanistan's outgoing President Hamid Karzai has called upon the country’s rival presidential candidates to end their dispute over election results and work together to save the country from violence and economic decline.
In a speech in Kabul on August 19 marking Afghanistan’s Independence Day, Karzai said the entire country hopes the election results will be announced soon.
He said Afghans also want the candidates to agree on an “inclusive government in which nobody is left out.”
The first round of the presidential election failed to produce a clear winner and the second round in June triggered allegations of massive fraud.
Washington brokered a deal for an audit and a national unity government designed to end the impasse between candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.
But the dispute could erupt again as results emerge from the recount of all 8.1 million second-round ballots.
