Afghan Candidates Agree to Resolve Dispute

Afghanistan’s feuding presidential candidates agreed Friday to resolve their election dispute and said they would set an inauguration date before the end of August.

The breakthrough came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened a second day of talks in Afghanistan aimed at preventing the fragile country from collapsing into political chaos after disputed elections.

“This is really an Afghan solution to an Afghan problem,” Kerry said at a news conference. “Both parties have agreed to stay at it and both parties have agreed to live by the outcome.”

Kerry paid a courtesy call on Afghan President Hamid Karzai and met later with the two men, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. They’ve been locked in a bitter dispute over who will succeed Karzai.

Abdullah called the agreement “another step forward in the interests of strengthening national unity in the country, strengthening rule of law in the country and bringing hope to the people for the future of Afghanistan.”

Ahmadzai said he and Abdullah, whom he called a “brother and colleague,” were determined to turn what he termed a “vicious circle” of turmoil in many parts of the Muslim world into a “virtuous circle” for the people of Afghanistan.

Kerry is on a previously unannounced visit to Kabul to urge the candidates to accept the results of an ongoing audit of all ballots from the June election and form a national unity government by early September when NATO leaders will meet in Wales to consider their options in Afghanistan.

Kerry called Friday’s agreement a “pivotal time” in Afghanistan’s future.

More From ABCNEws: