Table of Contents
- National Unity Government 2014-19
2019 Elections
- The preliminary results were announced on 22 December, and the definitive ones on 18 February 2020.
Controversial 2019 Elections
- Election fraud complaints
- Delayed results
- No ‘Run-off’
- A political stalemate after both President Ashraf Ghani and former chief executive Dr. Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory.
Political crisis
- 9 March – Both of them took the presidential oath of office at separate inauguration ceremonies
- 23 March- United States announced that as a result of the political crisis it would reduce aid to Afghanistan by $1 billion.
- If Ghani and Abdullah do not reach an agreement, it may reduce aid further
- Multiple rounds of Negotiations culminated in an agreement on 16 May
The Political deal
- Key provisions in the agreement include power sharing structures designed to reflect the interests of both Ghani and Abdullah.
- Ghani – Undisputed President
- Abdullah – Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation
- The agreement is expected to be better than the 2014 one because it is an entirely Afghan-negotiated deal, the Afghan leaders fully own it, whether it works or not.
Crucial Deal
- It consolidates the country’s democratic process in the face of odds, including continuing violence and terrorism
- Ghani, a Pashtun leader, has drawn much of his support from the Pashtun-majority south and Mr. Abdullah has won mainly in the Northern areas with Tajik presence.
- The almost failed S.-Taliban deal also cast a shadow over the authority of a govt in Kabul .
Challenges in front of Afghanistan
- Decades of war, political chaos, desperate poverty, and now coronavirus
- As Afghans struggle with increased Taliban and militant violence, the government is faced with an acute economic challenge and a fiscal deficit amidst soaring poverty and unemployment rates as well as shrinking foreign assistance
- Taliban militants have announced they will keep fighting despite COVID-19
Covid 19 in Afghanistan
- As of 23 May, there have been 9,998 positive cases, with 1,040 recoveries and 216 deaths across all 34 provinces in the country
- Already fighting a tough battle on the public health front – Afghanistan ranks 168th in the world in infant mortality rate, 176th for maternal mortality and 173rd in life expectancy of all citizens
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