Afghanistan's Parliament May Do Better Than Iraq's

America’s Congress may be divided, but Iraq’s parliament can’t even choose new leadership to help repeal jihadist invaders fighting 50 miles from its capital. Meanwhile, over in Afghanistan, Secretary of State John Kerry has swooped in to broker a deal to reshape the parliamentary system.

Iraq has failed to give its minorities a sense of national unity or a voice in government in the wake of war, but where they have fallen short Afghanistan may succeed with help from a new system that shares more power among representatives.  

The details of a new government framework have not been finalized but the deal brings Afghanistan back from the brink as the two main contenders in its presidential election threatened to divide the country. This compromise is key as the U.S. military prepares to withdraw after 13 years of war and seeks to protect the hundreds of billions of dollars spent rebuilding the mountainous nation.  

Reshaping the system that has existed since 2004 was a key goal for one of the top contenders, Abdullah Abdullah, who had threatened to form his own separate government amid allegations of fraud against his rival Ashraf Ghani, who has the backing of current President Hamid Karzai.

Read the full article at US News.