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Kerry In Afghanistan To Meet Feuding Candidates


Afghan election-commission workers move ballot boxes to a truck for delivery to Kabul for an audit of the presidential runoff votes in the western Herat Province last month.
Afghan election-commission workers move ballot boxes to a truck for delivery to Kabul for an audit of the presidential runoff votes in the western Herat Province last month.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit to try to calm tensions between the country's two feuding presidential candidates.

Kerry plans to meet later on August 7 with Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

The two remain locked in a bitter dispute over the results of the June 14 presidential election runoff.

Abdullah says massive fraud tilted the results of a preliminary count vote in favor of Ghani.

All 8 million ballots cast in the election are currently being recounted in a UN-supervised process that Kerry brokered last month.

Kerry also plans to meet with President Hamid Karzai before heading to Myanmar for an Asian security conference on August 8.

In a statement issued by his office on August 7, Karzai said final results of the election must be announced this month, as agreed.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
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