Secretary Kerry makes surprise trip to Afghanistan amid tumult

By Curt Mills, Curt Mills

Published April 10, 2016

Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan Saturday, in the midst of a crisis in the unity government he helped build.

Afghan politics are dominated by a rivalry between President Ashraf Ghani and Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah. The unusual CEO title is part of the power-sharing arrangement between the two most senior officials in the war-torn country.

"We need to make certain that the government of national unity is doing everything possible to be unified and to deliver to the people of Afghanistan," Kerry said Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, in an address to the U.S.-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission.

"Democracy requires credible institutions. Even more than that it requires the willingness of various political, ethnic and geographic fractions come together and work for common good," Kerry said in a news conference in Afghanistan with President Ghani.