Afghanistan faces many challenges in the months ahead, but none are as critical as avoiding a presidential election crisis. And yet, as the country counts ballots from the second round of voting, allegations of fraud are growing louder. With the Taliban increasing its attacks, the Kabul government cannot be hobbled by a lack of leadership at the top.
Afghanistan has a two-round presidential election. In the first round, held in April, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and anti-Taliban resistance fighter who also led forces that battled the Soviet Union in the 1980s, came in first with 45 percent of the vote, a convincing 13-point margin over former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, who came in second with 31.6 percent of the vote.
But since Abdullah could not claim an outright majority, a second round of balloting was held in June.