US Assistant Secretary of State Doug Frantz Visits Afghanistan

KABUL: (Middle East Press) The US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Doug Frantz arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday amid rising tensions over presidential elections.

The Department of State following a statement said, “He plans to suggest the Administration’s full support for a peaceful and democratic transfer of power and emphasize the priority Secretary Kerry places on an audit process that ensures a legitimate outcome and agreement on the details of a government of national unity.”

The visit by Frantz comes as Dr. Abdullah Abdullah’s electoral team warned on Monday to fully withdraw from the electoral process, including negotiations on the formation of a national unity government.

Dr. Abdullah’s team set a deadline for the approval of their demands and conditions to continue negotiations on unity government formation and election process, and warned to withdraw from the process if their conditions were not met on Tuesday.

The agreement between Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, to form a unity government was reached following US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Afghanistan.

The two candidates agreed to full audit of the ballots and vowed to stand for by the result of the election audit and form a unity government.

However, Dr. Abdullah’s team pulled out from audit process last week and claimed that the UN-supervised audit process was not fairly conducted.