Afghanistan holds two separate swearing-in ceremonies

Amin Alemi
Press TV, Kabul

Despite political mediations, Afghanistan finally witnessed the launch of two separate swearing-in ceremonies. The first one was held in the Afghan presidential palace where Ashraf Ghani officially held his swearing-in ceremony and the second one was held by Ghani’s main political rival Abdullah Abdullah in Sapidar Palace who named himself as the president of the country.

Two blasts also were heard as two rival leaders held their swearing in ceremonies. There was report of casualties.

Unlike other days, Kabul streets are calm and quiet. Security forces have beefed up their presence and central parts of the city are blocked. Many precautionary measures have been taken to avoid any possible threat that can affect the swearing-in ceremonies.

Afghanistan embroiled in political uncertainty after the Electoral Commission declared Ghani the winner of September’s election. Abdullah, however, claimed that he and his allies had won the polls and insisted on forming a new government.

Ghani earlier postponed the ceremony in hopes of reaching an agreement with Abdullah. Both candidates had announced that they would hold separate swearing-in ceremony on Monday. But Abdullah’s spokesman later said they would postpone the event If Ghani’s team takes the similar step.

The parallel swearing-in ceremonies have created concerns among people. Afghans are worried about the fate of their country. They for instance blame top politicians in Afghanistan for not being ready to concede and pay attention to the national interests of their country.

Many efforts had been made so far to break down the current standoff in Afghanistan. US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and many other well-known political figures have made their best to convince Ghani and Abdullah to settle their differences but all to no avail.

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