At Last, Afghanistan Has a New President

Afghanistan's election commission has named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of the country's presidential election, but the commission did not release final vote figures. The commission's announcement today came hours after Ghani Ahmadzai signed a power sharing agreement with opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the newly created position of government chief executive. A Ghani Ahmadzai supporter—Halim Fidai, a former governor—said today that UN representative Jan Kubish told the commission not to release detailed vote tallies.

"I am very happy today that both of my brothers, Dr. Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, in an Afghan agreement for the benefit of this country, for the progress and development of this country, that they agreed on the structure affirming the new government of Afghanistan," said President Hamid Karzai, as per USA Today. The decision underscores the fear of potential violence despite today's deal. An anonymous senior US official said the vote result is transparent but may be released slowly over fears of violence. (More Afghanistan stories.)