Afghan presidential rivals vow to end crisis over disputed elections

Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, sent a message to Nato leaders saying they will do their utmost to reach a political agreement that would end a crisis over disputed elections.

"I can confirm that we received a message from the two presidential candidates indicating that they will do all they can to reach a political agreement and if that materialises we would warmly welcome it," said Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen at its summit in Wales. "Afghanistan deserves a rapid completion of the electoral process with an outcome that can be accepted by the Afghan people."

Nato needs a new Afghan president in place to sign an agreement on continued co-operation. Otherwise it will likely have to withdraw all its forces from the country this year and abandon plans for a training mission for the Afghan armed forces as they battle Taliban insurgents.

Yesterday, Taliban insurgents detonated two powerful truck bombs outside the office of Afghanistan’s spy agency and a police compound in the central town of Ghazni, killing 18 people and wounding about 150, the provincial governor said.

The attack, the biggest in recent weeks, comes days after the national directorate of security, the intelligence arm that is leading the fight against the insurgents, was targeted in the east.

Ghazni provincial governor Musa Khan Akbarzada said a team of 19 insurgents was involved in the attack which also targeted a quick reaction team housed in the police compound. The explosions were followed by gunbattles with Afghan forces, he said. The attack in Ghazni, one of the provinces that surround the capital city of Kabul, is the latest in a series of offensives launched by the Taliban in the summer fighting season. – (Reuters)