Afghan presidential rivals Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah agreed on Friday to draft plans for a more unified government and to resolve their vote count dispute by agreeing to an internationally supervised audit.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had mediated the deal last month with Ghani and Abdullah to abide by an internationally supervised recount, which they formalized on Friday.

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"We will form a government of national unity... What unites us is far greater than what divided us during the campaign," Ghani said.

It is unclear how the new government will move forward, but Abdullah said that an inclusive government is key.

"We are committed to work together to develop [the new government] further and our teams will start working on the details of it for a few days, leaving the outcome of the elections aside or what has happened in the past but rather looking towards the future for the interest of the national unity of government", Abdullah said.

Kerry had flown to Kabul to broker the deal so that the US can enter discussions with the new president about a Bilateral Security Agreement to keep 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

International troops stationed in Afghanistan and led by the US are set to end combat missions this December. Previous president Hamid Karzai did not want to renew a foreign military presence and said it was for his successor to decide.

The initial voting round in April showed former Foreign Minister Abdullah as the winner with 45 percent, to former World Bank official Ghani's 31.6 percent.

A second round count in June flipped their places, with Abdullah at 43.45 percent and Ghani at 56.44 percent. Both accused each other of fraudulent votes and loyalists threatened to create a parallel government.

Kerry spoke at a news conference after brokering the deal, saying "one of these men is going to be president, but both are going to be critical to the future of Afghanistan no matter what."

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