Kabul has finally had a peaceful democratic transition of leadership, the first in four decades and, in the bargain, attained two: a president and first ever chief executive to share powers. More than seven million of an estimated eligible 12 million Afghan voters (34 percent of them women), braved inclement weather, Taliban threats and terror attacks and cast their votes on April 5, 2014 amidst tight security. The process had to be repeated on June 14 for a second round run-off since no candidate had secured more than the mandatory 50 percent of the vote. Despite sporadic assaults by miscreants, including one on June 6 in which candidate Abdullah Abdullah narrowly survived an assassination attempt, the second round took place. It raised the spectre of further uncertainty, since Abdullah Abdullah, who fared marginally better than his rival in the first round, was declared the loser to Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and challenged the results vociferously.Months of bickering and accusations of poll rigging further marred the electoral process till US Secretary of State John Kerry jumped into the fray announcing, on July 12, that all ballots would be audited under UN supervision. The US has mercifully not played favourites and aided the transition neutrally.The UN commenced monitoring and recounting of the second-round of ballots on August 29. In the backdrop of whispers of election fraud on both sides, on September 21, Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner and bitter wrangling was put to rest with both candidates announcing a unity government of power sharing with Ghani assuming the mantle of President and Abdullah Abdullah the newly created post of Chief Executive that, following a constitutional amendment, may be turned into the position of prime minister. It was the end of bitter squabbling in a power struggle, one that had the potential of morphing into bloodier carnage than the kind that had followed the 1989 Soviet retreat and departure of US-led allies who created the Afghan resistance to rout the Red Army. John Kerry’s deft shuttle diplomacy, reminiscent of the Kissinger era, cajoling, counselling and even threatening the candidates with shutting off the spigot of US financial support ultimately bore fruit. The US is a major stakeholder for peace in Afghanistan with the drawdown of international forces targeted to conclude by year end and the US-Afghanistan Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) to be signed by the new Afghan incumbent a prerequisite adding urgency to the conclusion of the electoral process. The BSA will provide the legal framework for the US to continue to train, advise and assist the Afghan national security forces in an endeavour to insulate Afghanistan from becoming a refuge for terrorists. Post-Karzai Afghanistan faces enormous challenges. The absence of sound state institutions, lack of reforms to harness the unbridled powers of the warlords, massive corruption and acute nepotism have badly shattered the capacity of any government to rule the highly fragmented Afghan society, let alone a coalition of opposing factions. The Afghan national army is far from ready to meet the challenges of terror attacks and keeping the Taliban at bay, especially from the key southern province of Helmand, notorious for drug cultivation. The economy is in the doldrums and, according to US media sources, the Afghan government is on the verge of bankruptcy, necessitating an emergency $ 537 million bailout just to pay its government employees. All social service projects started by allied countries may come to a standstill without further funding from pledged donors.Karzai found an easy scapegoat to divert attention from his government’s poor governance and far reaching failures, blaming the Pakistan army and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for sponsoring terror attacks in his country and urging the US to chastise Pakistan. The trust deficit is unfortunate because Pakistan has hosted three million to five million Afghan refugees for over three decades, has backed an Afghan-led reconciliation process by facilitating the opening of a Doha office, releasing Taliban prisoners on the Afghan government’s request, conducted wide ranging military operations to eradicate terrorist safe havens from its soil and has avoided patronising any political candidate in Afghanistan’s government. Despite these positive endeavours, the Afghan government’s response has remained lukewarm.During the 2014 Afghan presidential election campaign’s television debates, all three contenders, including Zalmai Rassoul, also accused Pakistan of aiding the Taliban, claiming that Afghan sovereignty had to be maintained and that the Afghan government had to prevent Pakistan from destabilising Afghanistan through proxies. This bleak milieu demands tightrope walking from Pakistan. It will have to not only welcome the new Afghan leadership, their choice of necessity, but hope that the fragile peace amongst the warring warlords does not break out into internecine warfare. Pakistan must continue its support for the Afghans in transit trade and all aspects of good neighbourliness. The writer is a former group captain of PAF, who also served as air and naval attaché at Riyadh. Currently, he is a columnist, analyst and a television show host