Afghan president urges rival successors to unify

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is urging the country's two presidential candidates to reach an agreement on a new national unity government.
Speaking during a national holiday event attended by both candidates today, Karzai said that his time as president is over and that the country wants a new government.
He told the crowd of hundreds of powerful Afghan men to urge Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to reach a deal.
Karzai said the two could reach a deal within days and that Afghanistan could have a new government within a week.
Abdullah yesterday announced that he would not accept the expected outcome of the election committee's recount, an indication that the official ballot numbers favor Ghani Ahmadzai. The official announcement is expected to be made this week.