Steinmeier demands end to Afghan power struggle --- German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has urged Afghanistan's presidential hopefuls, Ashram Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, to set in motion the country's first ever democratic power transition. -- When the Transall plane carrying Germany's foreign minister left Kabul bound for India on Saturday afternoon, Afghanistan still lacked a new president. According to members of Steinmeier's delegation, both hopefuls had Berlin's position explained to them in 45-minute meetings. -- Germany's top diplomat was of course less explicit when briefing the press. Steinmeier said that he had tried to make it clear "that this was not about a bit of wrangling within Afghanistan's domestic politics." Such bickering was common in Germany too, he said, but in this case the stability of an entire country was at stake. "Afghanistan cannot be allowed to slide back into total conflict between political camps or ethnic groups." - More, Deutsche Welle, http://www.dw.de/steinmeier-demands-end-to-afghan-power-struggle/a-17906183