Afghanistan: Troubled audit of Afghan presidential vote resumes, but new troubles emerg --- KABUL — Afghanistan’s troubled presidential vote audit resumed Sunday, but one candidate’s team continued to boycott the review and issued wildly mixed signals about its intentions while the other candidate’s agents bickered endlessly over which ballots seemed suspicious. -- The confusion and melodrama hinted at a deepening disaster at a crucial moment in Afghanistan’s transition to full democratic rule, which is occurring as Taliban insurgent violence continues and Western troops pull out. -- Although the election process is now technically back on track after weeks of delays and disagreements, and both candidates are under international pressure to accept the results and get a new president installed, it seemed clear that political pique and mistrust over the crucial issue of fraud can still derail the entire exercise. -- Officials from the United Nations, the U.S. Embassy and the Afghan election commission tried to put a positive face on the situation, but their efforts were overshadowed by a stream of belligerent and contradictory comments from the camps of presidential rivals Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah. -- While officials stressed that both sides had agreed on the general framework for the audit and a joint governing plan after a winner is declared — the essence of a deal brokered by Secretary of State John F. Kerry last month — they were vague on many of the details and implied that key differences remained unresolved. --- U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham, in a phone conversation with journalists Sunday evening, praised statements from the United Nations and Abdullah’s campaign indicating he had decided to rejoin the audit, calling it “welcome news.” The ambassador “commended both candidates” for their commitment to the audit and the political process.