Another blow to the legitimacy of the Afghan Government:
KABUL, Afghanistan — Abdullah Abdullah, the chief rival to President Hamid Karzai, announced on Sunday that he would withdraw from the Nov. 7 Afghan runoff election, effectively handing a new term to Mr. Karzai but potentially damaging the government’s credibility.
Speaking at a news conference, Mr. Abdullah said that the Afghan people should not accept the results of an election run by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission, which has been accused of favoring Mr. Karzai.
“I will not participate in the Nov. 7 election,” Mr. Abdullah said, because a “transparent election is not possible.”
Mr. Abdullah said that Mr. Karzai’s government had not been legitimate since May, when the initial round of balloting was originally to have taken place.
Before Mr. Abdullah’s announcement, American and other Western diplomats said they were worried that a defiant statement by Mr. Abdullah could lead to violence and undermine Mr. Karzai’s legitimacy, and they were urging him to bow out gracefully. Obama administration officials have scrambled for weeks to end the deadlock, trying to ensure a smooth government transition as President Obama weighs whether to increase the American military presence in Afghanistan.
People close to Mr. Abdullah said that his representative met with Mr. Karzai on Saturday but that they were unable to make any progress on the issue that brought the two campaigns to loggerheads: Mr. Abdullah’s demands that the Afghan election system be overhauled to head off more fraud in the second round. After the first round of voting, a United Nations-backed panel threw out nearly a million of Mr. Karzai’s ballots — one-third of his total — on the ground that they were fake.
The status of the runoff vote itself remained an open question after Mr. Abdullah’s speech. Afghan officials said it seemed likely that the vote would simply be canceled; the possibility of Taliban violence alone would appear to render pointless another Afghan election where the winner was known in advance.
Quite obviously, these accusations will only add to the doubts about the legitimacy of the Karzai regime, and that’s not good for us as long as we’re tied so closely to him.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:35 am
Fascinating, this fellow moves on — that undercuts the legitimacy of his opponent. Sarah Palin moves on and she becomes the subject of your scorn and ridicule.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:04 am
Completely different circumstances, and you know it.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 am
The de facto leader of Afghanistan is now a U.S.-picked fraud… I think now’s a great opportunity to realize the conflict’s illegitimacy and pull out. http://www.newsy.com/videos/abdullah_s_pullout_affects_afghan_poll_runoff_u_s_policy