Reuters, Kabul :
US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to produce a deal by the end of Saturday to end Afghanistan’s election crisis, meeting for the second day with the country’s two presidential candidates and incumbent President Hamid Karzai.
The deadlock over the June 14 election run-off between the leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, has raised concerns in Washington about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan just as US troops are withdrawing.
Kerry and his aides met throughout the night, following talks on Friday with both Abdullah and Ghani, as well as with Karzai and UN special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis.
He met again with Abdullah and Ghani at the US compound on Saturday and will meet Karzai at the presidential palace later.
A news conference is scheduled for Saturday afternoon before Kerry flies to Vienna for talks between world powers and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Preliminary results from the runoff vote put Ghani, a former World Bank official, in the lead by almost one million votes. Abdullah rejected the result, claiming widespread fraud and calling the outcome a “coup” against the Afghan people.
The United States has urged the Independent Electoral Commision not to release the final vote tally until a thorough review of the votes. It also urged the camps of both Ghani and Abdullah not to declare victory.
As talks unfolded behind closed doors, the rival camps were tight-lipped on the progress.
“In this meeting they both exchanged ideas,” said Mahmoud Saikal, a key member of Abdullah’s camp, speaking about the Friday meeting. “John Kerry wanted more information about all electoral problems.”
