National Unity Government

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In the summer of 2014 the Afghan presidential election turned into a dismal failure. Election fraud took place in all regions of the country and was perpetrated by all the major political parties and presidential candidates. The presidential election held in April 2014 did not produce an overall winner so a run-off election was held for the position of President in June. The June election results were inconclusive. Although Ghani was the projected winner there were too many allegations of fraud to declare him the overall victor.

As a result of the election impasse the two presidential candidates from the runoff election - Ghani and Abdullah - agreed to form a "National Unity Government"; called "NUG" by some observers. The NUG agreement put the election in the past and declared Ghani as President and Abdullah as the "Chief Executive Officer" or CEO.

Formation of Cabinet.Although Ghani promised to form the cabinet within 45 days the formation actually took much longer - extending into 2015. Even after Ghani and Abdullah agreed on the ministry appointees (who would head which ministry) the Afghan parliament rejected many of the nominees.

Presidential Decree on CEO Office. In December 2014 President Ghani issued a decree which laid out the responsibilities and authorities of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) held by Abdullah Abdullah. The new decree cements the hierarchy between the president and his CEO (quasi-prime minister). ^1.

Gridlock. The NUG has turned out to be a big dissappointment thus far. The two competing camps of Ghani and Abdullah do not work well with each other and are the cause of the national gridlock in the Afghan government. Corruption, one of the big concerns of Ghani, is as bad as it has ever been. The NUG is confronting numerous economic and security challenges while the Taliban is at its strongest since it was toppled from power by the United States and the Northern Alliance in 2001.

Websites about the National Unity Government (NUG)

Blog Posts about NUG by Afghan War News Blog
http://afghanwarnews.blogspot.com/search/label/national-unity-government

Blog Posts about NUG by Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN)
www.afghanistan-analysts.org/tag/national-unity-government/

Papers and Pubs about the National Unity Government (NUG)

2018

Giustozzi, Antonio and Ali Mohammad Ali, The National Unity Government and the Re-Shaping of Political Coalitions in Afghanistan, Center for Research & Policy Analysis (CRPA), January 9, 2018.
www.af-crpa.org/ . . . /The-National-Unity-Government-. . .

2017

Crisis Group, Afghanistan: The Future of the National Unity Government, Asia Report No 285, April 10, 2017.
www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/285-afghanistan-future-national-unity-government

2016

Rubin, Barnett r. and Georgette Gagnon, The U.S. Presence and Afghanistan's National Unity Government: Preserving and Broadening the Political Settlement, NYU Center on International Cooperation, August 2016.
http://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/national_unity_government_final.pdf

News Reports about the National Unity Government (NUG)

September 29, 2015. "NUG One Year On: Success". Foreign Policy. Tamim Asey believes the glass is half full.

Endnotes

1. See The President's CEO Decree: Managing rather than executive powers, by Thomas Ruttig of Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), February 13, 2015.
www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-presidents-ceo-decree-managing-rather-then-executive-powers/