Kerry meets Afghan election candidates

The first meeting was held on Friday. Kerry also met with UN special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis.
 
On Saturday, he again met with Abdullah and Ghani at the US compound and is scheduled to meet Karzai at the presidential palace later.
 
During his second meeting, Kerry tried to strike a deal to end Afghanistan's election crisis amid the deadlock over the June 14 election run-off between the leading contenders.
 
However, the discussions have proved inconclusive and that the deadlock has raised concerns in the US about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan.
 
The meetings took place behind closed doors in Kabul and focused on the technical particulars of a UN audit just as US troops are withdrawing from the country.
 
Under the proposal, the Afghan elections commission would audit ballot boxes from over eight-thousand polling stations where suspicions of ballot-stuffing have been raised.
 
Ghani's campaign has embraced the plan, but Abdullah's team remains skeptical and asked for more voting districts to be examined. Preliminary results from the runoff vote put Ghani in the lead but Abdullah has rejected the result.
 
The final results of the Afghan presidential election will be announced on July 22. The winner of the election will succeed outgoing President Karzai, who has been in power since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.