Afghanistan’s two rival presidents reach a deal

ASHRAF GHANI remains president of Afghanistan, while his eternal rival for the job, Abdullah Abdullah, who disputes the result of the election held last September, gets yet another consolation prize. That, it seems, is the upshot of a deal finally agreed on May 17th, after months of posturing and haggling, including an absurd moment in March when both men had themselves sworn in. Dr Abdullah’s new job, fittingly enough, is to advance the peace negotiations he has been distracting attention from over the past few months.