Kabul, September 21
Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates signed a deal on Sunday to share power after months of turmoil over a disputed election that destabilised the nation at a crucial time as most foreign troops prepare to leave.

Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister who will be named the President, embraced rival Abdullah Abdullah after they signed the pact at a ceremony watched by outgoing president Hamid Karzai, and broadcast live from his palace.

The new administration faces huge challenges in fighting an emboldened Taliban-led insurgency and paying its bills amid plummeting tax revenue.

It will also face significant difficulty in improving the lives of ordinary Afghans who face hard times as aid flows fall and as contracts with the NATO-led coalition dry up as most foreign troops leave by the year-end.

Under the terms of the deal, the winner will have to share power with a chief executive proposed by the runner-up, and the two will share control over who leads key institutions such as the Afghan army and other executive decisions.

One of Ghani's first acts would be to sign a long-delayed bilateral security agreement with the United States, as he has previously declared support for the pact to allow a small force of foreign troops to remain in Afghanistan after 2014.

There is a risk that any instability could be exploited by neighbours, like Pakistan, whose past meddling in Afghan affairs have played a part in the conflicts that have dogged Afghanistan for decades. "A difficult and challenged unity structure is still preferable to conflict between these two groups," said a US official.

"Having them both working together within the government and direct their energies toward positive reform is again preferable to some of the alternatives."

Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, and Abdullah, whose main support comes from the country's second largest ethnic group, the Tajiks, face as difficult task forging unity in a country riven by ethnic and tribal rivalries. Abdullah's accusations that the run-off election was rigged in Ghani's favour had raised fears of ethnic violence, which could have ignited a conflict.

"A spark could have dealt a strong blow to the political process, if today's deal had not happened," commented Waliullah Rahmani, director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. But, we have crossed that moment." — Reuters