In Afghanistan, both sitting President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah have taken the oath as president of the country.
That happened with incoming rocket fire in the background. The power struggle between the two is thus coming to ahead. The US and the UN seem to recognize Ghani.
Both Ghani and Abdullah claim the victory in last year’s presidential election. Repairs and negotiations did not solve anything, and today both wanted to take the oath. Abdullah Abdullah was willing to postpone that if Ghani did, but that didn’t happen.
Both men have now taken the oath today as president in various places in the presidential palace in the capital Kabul.
During Ghani’s oath, there were explosions and gunfire in the background, but he was not hit. The terrorist group IS has claimed the rocket attack, but there is no evidence of that.
Ghani and Abdullah also challenged each other during the previous elections. Then, after American mediation, a compromise was found: Ghani became president and Abdullah head of government.
That precarious balance has worked all those years, but now it is likely to be disturbed. It is striking that the American envoy for Zalmay Khalilzad and UN envoy Tadamichi Yamamoto attended the oath of Ashraf Ghani. That is a recognition of his position.