Karzai Holds Talks To Resolve Presidential Vote Crisis

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (center right) holds talks on September 15 to try and resolve Afghanistan's crisis over a disputed presidential election.

The office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai reported "progress" in talks with presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah in a bid to end the country's crisis over the disputed presidential election.

Karzai hosted the talks with the candidates in Kabul on September 15.

Karzai spokesman Aiamal Faizi reported after the three leaders met that there had been a "breakthrough" in efforts to sign an agreement detailing a power-sharing arrangement for the two candidates.

Faizullah Zedki, a member of Ghani's election team, told RFE/RL after the leaders met that a power-sharing agreement could possibly be signed on September 16.

The June 14 run-off election between the two candidates was thrown into controversy when Abdullah accused Ghani and election officials of engaging in massive fraud to rig the election for Ghani.

A UN-sponsored audit of the millions of votes was carried out but the results have not been publicly announced.

Abdullah, who won the first round of the election with some 45 percent of the vote, has threatened several times not to recognize the official results.

With reporting by AFP