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               Afghan President-Elect Holds First News Conference

   by VOA News

   Afghan president-elect Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai is to hold his first news
   conference Monday, after being declared winner of the country's
   long-disputed presidential election.

   Ghani is set to be sworn-in on September 29 at the Presidential Palace
   in Kabul.

   His election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, becomes chief executive of the
   country under a power-sharing agreement the candidates signed Sunday.

   The election commission will not officially release vote tallies from
   the audit of the run-off election held in June. This was one of
   Abdullah's final demands in negotiations with Ghani.

   Leaked results, however, show Ghani took about 55 percent and Abdullah
   roughly 45 percent of the vote.

   Ghani has pledged to sign a security agreement that would allow about
   10,000 U.S. military trainers and advisers to remain in the country
   next year after all U.S. and NATO combat troops withdraw.

   The Taliban have been fighting to oust U.S.-led foreign forces. A
   Taliban spokesman rejected the national unity government pact as a ploy
   orchestrated by their enemy.

   The United States strongly pushed for a power-sharing deal between
   Ghani and Abdullah in order to prevent the election dispute from
   descending into deadlock and even violence between supporters of the
   candidates, who draw their support from ethnic groups that fought a
   civil war in the 1990s.

   Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned the rival candidates for weeks
   to coax them towards compromise, and President Barack Obama also made
   appeals for a unity government deal.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-president-elect-ghani-holds-fi
   rst-news-conference/2458105.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/afghan-president-elect-ghani-holds-first-news-conference/2458105.html