Nuristani

Mohammad Iqbal Nuristani had managed to get the bulk of his stranded commando unit on airplanes to Kabul the night before, but he and about 100 of his men were still stuck, surrounded by Taliban fighters demanding their surrender.

“Buddhist sculptures, Greek items from the north, Nuristani wood carvings.”

In a news conference announcing the election result after an audit of about 15 percent of the total vote, the chief of Afghanistan’s election commission, Hawa Alam Nuristani, said that Mr. Ghani had won with the narrowest of margins — 50.64 percent of the vote, just surpassing the 50 percent minimum required for an outright victory with no runoff.

Election commission chief Hawa Alam Nuristani announced the result during a press conference in Kabul.

The head of IEC Hawa Alam Nuristani said Ghani received 50.64 percent of votes - or 923,592 votes, in the election that took place last Sept. 28.