Afghan election dispute into crucial phase

Afghanistan's 10-week election crisis entered a risky new stage today when officials started invalidating fraudulent votes in a process likely to bring to a head the bitter dispute between the presidential candidates.
The country has been in paralysis since the June 14 election to choose the successor to President Hamid Karzai, who will step down as US-led NATO troops prepare to end their 13-year war against Taliban insurgents.
Karzai has insisted the delayed inauguration ceremony must be held on September 2, imposing a tough deadline that has raised tensions between supporters of poll rivals Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah.
The June vote was quickly mired in allegations of massive fraud, with Abdullah claiming that he had been denied victory after Ghani was declared ahead on preliminary results.

A smooth transition of power was meant to be the democratic keystone of the multi-billion dollar military and civilian aid effort in Afghanistan, but the impasse has emboldened the Taliban and weakened the fragile economy.
The anti-fraud audit of all eight million votes was agreed by both candidates as part of a US-brokered deal to calm tempers as fears rose of a return to the ethnic hatreds of the 1990s civil war.

"The IEC today begins the inspections of the audit result in an open session in the presence of national and international observers," Abdul Rehman Hotaki, deputy chairman of the Independent Election Commission, told reporters.

He said the audit, which has not yet been completed, was a "huge logistical task" but would be transparent to ensure legitimacy of the final result.
Ghani and Abdullah have also pledged to form a national unity government whoever wins the election, though the details of the power-sharing system have been subject to disagreement between the campaigns.
The US has been pushing for the next president to be inaugurated before a NATO summit starting on September 4, which should sign off on follow-up support after the coalition's combat mission in Afghanistan ends this year.
The political crisis would worsen sharply if either candidate pulls out of the audit or rejects its outcome, with possible street protests in Kabul by aggrieved supporters posing a major challenge to the national security forces.