Afghanistan has been in political disarray since the country’s election commission in December announced Ghani had won the Sept. 28 election with more than 50% of the vote. Abdullah had received more than 39% of the vote, according to the election commission, but he and the Elections Complaint Commission charged widespread voting irregularities.
Ghani and Abdullah both declared themselves president in parallel inauguration ceremonies in March. They have been locked in a power struggle since then and the discord prompted the Trump administration to announce it would cut $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan if the two weren’t able to work out their differences.
A peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban signed Feb. 29 calls for U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan. It was seen at the time as Afghanistan’s best chance at peace in decades of war. Since then, the U.S. has been trying to get the Taliban and the Afghan government to begin intra-Afghan negotiations, but the political turmoil and personal acrimony between Ghani and Abdullah impeded talks. Negotiations that were to take place in March never happened.
Despite 18 years and billions of dollars in international aid, Afghanistan remains desperately poor. The poverty level soared from 35% of the population in 2012 to more than 55% last year. Poverty in Afghanistan is defined as a person who survives on $1 or less a day. Successive Afghan governments, including Ghani’s, have been accused by international watchdogs of widespread corruption.Afghanistan has performed only limited testing so far with about 22,000 tested.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »
Source: inquirerdotnet - 🏆 3. / 86 Read more »
Source: rapplerdotcom - 🏆 4. / 86 Read more »
Source: gmanetwork - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »